After playing second fiddle to the Sydney Opera House for the last 27 years, Sydney's famous steel arch bridge is enjoying a new-found celebrity as an adventure playground.
Climbing tours of the Sydney Harbour Bridge - opened in 1932 and known to locals as 'the Coathanger' - began in October 1998 and are proving amazingly popular.
Bridge Climb, the private company that operates the service, says it is having difficulty coping with demand. Apart from the normal daylight climbs, the company now offers night-time tours and theme climbs for Valentine's Day and other occasions.
Each day about 500 people don special grey bridgesuits, buckle into safety harnesses and climb to the top of the bridge - 134 metres above the glittering surface of Sydney Harbour. Every climber is breath-tested for alcohol before being allowed on the bridge. Children under the age of 12 are not permitted to climb.
For many people the three-hour climb - which includes a lengthy rehearsal and safety routine - has proved to be a life-changing experience. There have already been 23 marriage proposals made on the bridge. However, with Bridge Climb's digital cameras on hand to record every moment, it may not be the world's most intimate venue.
The bridge itself had an extraordinary genesis. Worldwide tenders were called in 1922 and the contract eventually given to English firm Dorman Long and Co of Middlesborough.
The bridge cost £4.2 million to build. Because of the shortage of suitable steel in Australia at the time, 79 per cent of the steel girders used in its construction were shipped from England. Granite for the decorative 89-metre pylons was quarried near Moruya. That operation alone employed 250 Australian, Scottish and Italian stonemasons.
For anyone who can stay calm enough to concentrate, the climb (more correctly a nerve-wracking scramble) provides a wealth of historical detail about the bridge, including the fact that six million rivets were used in its construction. A further million were dropped into the harbour below.
The distinctive structure has always entranced Sydneysiders. A crowd of between 300,000 and one million people witnessed the opening of the bridge on March 19, 1932. The event is best remembered for the intervention of Captain Francis De Groot, who slashed the ribbon with a sword prior to the official cutting.
Fans of the actor Paul Hogan will be able to see where the star of Crocodile Dundee began his working life. Like today's riggers Hogan eschewed a safety harness in favour of ropes, pulleys and a strong stomach.
The climb is not for the faint-hearted. The bridge constantly moves and shakes. It carries eight lanes of traffic and two railway lines. The sheer mass of girders and pylons is a daunting sight - not to mention the vertical drop down to the water below.
Indeed, if you stood the Sydney Harbour Bridge on one end it would be higher than the Eiffel Tower.
Special climb suits, safety harnesses and walkie-talkies are compulsory. Each party - usually about 10 people in all - is accompanied by two trained guides.
Personal belongings - including cameras, keys and watches - are surrendered at the beginning of the climb to ensure that nothing can fall and injure anyone else on the bridge. Climbers are attached to safety cables at all times.
For anyone lacking a head for heights, the climb is probably something to avoid. The first few minutes can be unsettling as you glimpse the void separating yourself, your harness and the water beckoning below.
But once completed this is something you'll never regret.
Perhaps the best testimony comes from 89-year-old Herbert Wood, the oldest person so far to have climbed the bridge. Mr Wood, who first saw the bridge as a child of 14, said climbing it was "like a dream come true".
If heights really do give you the willies, visit the Bridge Museum located in the south-east pylon instead. Climb the 200 stairs to the top of the pylon for a more earthbound view of Sydney.
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Hi, My Bridge Climb tip is to do the climb at night. It is too hot during the day and the lights of the city are spectacular at night. This climb was the highlight of my Sydney holiday. You do have to wear the official safety clothes, so don't expect a glamorous photo at the top!
Link, Nth Balwyn, Vic.
Wear light, cool clothes. With the Bridge Climb outfit on it can get very warm up the top of the bridge on a sunny Sydney day.
Mel, Adelaide.
If you have the chance, take a sunset climb, that way you get the best of both worlds, you get to see Sydney under light, a beautiful sunset to the west and then Sydney under lights.
Roxy, Hobart.
4WD
