Thursday, September 27, 2007

Now I've, Had the Climb of My Life

I still remember the year I went to church camp and we had to climb what I think was an old rickety wooden fire tower. About half way up I panicked and had someone escort me back to the bottom. Somewhere inside it embedded in me a slight fear of heights. I try to overcome it and not let it keep me from doing the things I would like to do, but at some point that fear was bound to come back.
As our group of 9 Americans abounded on our journey to the bridge climb I started questioning why I would pay good money to scare myself to death.
When we first got to the climb we had to derobe and dress in what looked to be 1980s grey moon suits. We weren't allowed to take anything up with us except for sunglasses which were securely attached to our suit. Also attached was my 1980s grey hair scrunchy that I was given, a sweat rag, a radio to hear the tour guide, and our 5 inch long cord connected to a metal ball which latched us onto the bridge-- I questioned if that would actually save my life in the event of a fall!
As we started up the bridge I was no longer excited- I was scared, nervous, worried, sweating, and next to the worst person possible, Kevin, because he only played off of my nervousness. We had to walk across wooden planks only held in by cables and then up metal stairs with which I could see through to the deep depths below.
Once we finally reached the top part of the bridge the bottom was solid and I began to truly enjoy the climb. The views were breathtaking. And it was the warmest day Sydney has seen in 4 months! I did start sweating in uncomfortable places and was secretly hoping that this wasn't shining through that stupid grey suit because everyone knows grey and sweat are NOT friends!
All in all once at the top I really was having "the climb of my life." I'm glad I did it and now I can say I've climbed the tallest steel bridge in all the world!

Oh, and my legs were feeling it today!! Talk about a workout!


This is the group of US studnets that I hang out with. Top row (l-r) Corey, Andria, Alli, Me, Mike. Bottom row Kevin, Sam, Jenny, Andrew. Fun group indeed!

1 comment:

Stace said...

how cool! I'm so glad you enjoyed the climb. Now when you see that bridge on TV you can say, "Hey - I climbed that!"