Just Keep Climbing!!

Can't keep our feet still for too long!

Sydney has a lot to offer, so even though Bondi Beach is calling our names to stay and get some sun, we have a lot more on our to-do list. It is time to move closer to downtown. However, we can't leave until we had one last romantic stroll down the beach. Afterwards, we packed up our backpacks and headed towards the bus stop. Taking the bus in Sydney is actually quite easy and it took us only one bus ride to get into Downtown Sydney!

Ultimate Ultimo

Being a standby traveler means that you aren't able to make reservations as you normally would, so Hotel Tonight (a last minute hotel reservation application) became our new best friend. Through this app, we found The Ultimo Hotel, the world's first astrology hotel! Upon check-in, they asked us what our star signs were. Anna got really excited and told them her's immediately. Dan on the other hand, needed some help with his. When we finished checking in, the staff handed us Do Not Disturb signs, highlighting our star signs, and a suggested things to do list... which was of course, based on our star signs as well. It was a really neat personal touch that neither of us had encountered before!

Dash across Sydney

We couldn't stay in our room for long, as next on our to-do list was to climb the Sydney HaRbour Bridge! We rushed through streets and up alleys hustling to make our time slot. When we arrived, out of breath, we were shown the "ready room." Here, we put on some stylish jumpsuits, locked away everything we were carrying, and had a safety demonstration. Our tour guide, Dan (I know, easy to remember!), was a fantastic guide, having a lot of jokes and was a wealth of knowledge of the bridge and Sydney area.

Sydney Bridge Climb

We started our climb. First, we hooked up our harnesses to the safety wire which ran all the way through the entire bridge, keeping us safely attached to the bridge. We joked it was as if we were taking a dog on a walk up the bridge by how we were connected to it. We started by walking though a stone tunnel and we started our ascent. As we reached the upper archway, we were treated with our first view of the Sydney Opera House. Our height above the ground wasn't much of a factor as the panoramic views were a beautiful distraction.

We were incredibly lucky to time our climb to be able to watch a gorgeous sunset from on top of the bridge. After the sunset, we started down the ladders to get us back (which were actually kind of scary!). Often, we found ourselves looking eye to eye with people driving home, or passengers riding the train on their commute. We finally got back to Bridge Climb base. Overall, the climb was a bit expensive, however, it is one of those attractions that is just simply a must-do! This will easily be one of the highlights of our trip!

Unexpected Surprises are some of the Best Surprises

As we got out of our fashionable jumpsuits, and gathered our belongings, we asked Dan, our tour guide, where a good place to grab an Australian beer would be. We ended up at a local bar just down the street. Wouldn't you know it, but we ran in to Dan there! We shared a beer with him and exchanged stories. Anna had some world changing mac & cheese balls! It was great food with great conversation!

After a long day of running around all over Sydney, we decided to take the train back to the hotel. Trains in Sydney are surprisingly very clean and extremely quiet. Upon arriving back at the hotel, we found a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne left on our table thanking us for allowing them to be a part of our honeymoon! Wow! Turns out that when we checked in, Dan wrote that it was our honeymoon under the reason for travel! This act of kindness really made us feel pretty darn special! It was a great way to finish an eventful day!