Sydney Harbor Bridge (January 21, 2026)
After a really amazing day walking around in the bush, I’m excited to get up early and pick up Violet from the Sydney airport. I temper my expectations here, because I don’t know if she’s had much luck sleeping on our 25 hour flight (with layover in Auckland, New Zealand). But as luck would have it, she’s fully rested and ready to go!
First selfie with Violet at the Sydney airport where I picked her up
So, we head back to our hotel so that she can drop her stuff off and, now that I know she has energy, we book ourselves for the next available group at the Sydney Harbor Bridge Summit. But we have time before we go there, so I show her this really fun exhibit I referenced when I first got here two days ago as part of the Sydney Festival.
This is Violet looking down the bridge at people under her, and …
…they are seeing her GIANT eyes under the bridge.
This exhibit is called, “Observe while being observed” and I love it. As you look at others down below, they are seeing an EYE-MAX version of your eyes looking at them, like so:
Okay, now that Violet has had a bit of exposure around where we’re staying, it’s time to make our way to the Sydney Harbor Bridge to walk to the very top of the bridge. I did this over a decade ago when I was here with Elena and it was my most memorable part of the trip. I couldn’t wait to share this experience with Violet.
Suited up and ready to walk t to the top of Sydney Harbor Bridge
We got there an hour early and what we didn’t realize is that getting there early is part of the fun! We found that they had installed a free arcade center including free Super Mario Cart (“versus”) full arcade style game, air hockey, foosball, corn hole, and a HUGE connect 4 among several other games. We loved this and needed to set an alarm so we didn’t miss our slotted time to hike the bridge. There were also plenty of “selfie spots” throughout and even a celebrity wall of all the movie stars and famous people who have summited the bridge.
The only “random” part of this experience that you really can’t control is who you are assigned as your guide. We really lucked out with ours. Cam was AWESOME. He’s been doing this for only 6 months but it feels like he’s been crushing this for years. He’s funny, personable and throws his whole self into this experience. He also takes really great pictures. I wasn’t going to spend the extra money to get these pictures, but after we completed our photo shoots, I knew we needed to share.
I realize we’re looking into the sun, but wow what an amazing view!
As expected, Violet LOVED this summit climb on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Had we been allowed to take our mobile phones, I’m sure we would have taken even more pictures along the way. Even the simple things like walking under the bridge is cool. As we were making our way back down the ladder (once we had summited), a passing train went speeding past us. Never been that close to a train going that fast.
Truly, a memorable experience and highly recommended if you ever find yourself in Sydney. It’s the only iconic bridge I’ve ever been allowed to climb on top of, overlooking the cars, trains, boats and so close to the buzzing helicopters taking their passengers for a flyover. Amazing!
