last day in Sydney... and it better be great!!

It was!!

Upon advice from a friend, I climbed the Sydney Bridge. No, I didn't just hop on and climb it by myself... I had to pay for the privilege. They are actually quite strict and it is a very structured event. You have change into their jumpsuit, can't take anything with you other than your glasses (ie No camera = no pictures or my own). You can't even take jewelry unless its religious in nature. I guess they don't want anyone to kill a pedestrian or crash a car on the highway below by dropping an earring on them. Every part of you outfit is tethered to your jumpsuit and then you and your jumpsuit are attached to the bridge the entire time via a cable system (its quite ingenious system, from a product developers point of view). The bridge is 135 meters above sea level (ie the harbor) and the climb takes 3 1/2 hours to complete. It has some absolutely beautiful views... sorry, you'll have to take my word for it. Here is a picture of another group on top of the bridge. Yes, I made it all the way up to just underneath the flags at the summit. I do have a group picture to prove it, but its a hard copy... Anyway it was a lot of fun.







After the climb and before I left Sydney, I wanted to experience an authentic Australian Steakhouse. So I went to Kingsley's, noted to be one of the best in Sydney. It was good, but the midwest has nothing to worry about. The interesting thing is that they have a very extensive list of steaks, grouped by type of feed as well as geography and location from the cow.







Don't know if you can read the prices but yes, they are expensive. Probably comparable to Chicago prices, but remember that they are higher in US dollars. The one nice thing is that what is listed is what you pay. In Australia, it is not customary to tip for service and prices include all taxes, etc. so if it says 50 bucks, its 50 bucks... no add ons. Although, the waitress did ask if I wanted some bread to start and I said sure... not realizing it was $5.50 for a "Damper" (traditional outback small round load of bread)... oh, the upsell is everywhere. All said and done though, I got out for less than I thought I would going into it... and it was good, but not as fantastic as I hoped it would be.



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Location:Sydney, Australia