The Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of Australia's most well-known and photographed landmarks. It is the world's largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 meters above the harbour. It is fondly known by the locals as the 'Coathanger' because of its arch-based design.

Its construction started in 1924 and took more than 1,400 men, and eight years to build. Six million hand driven rivets and 53,000 tons of steel were used in this construction. It now carries eight traffic lanes and two rail lines, one in each direction, but at the time of its construction the two eastern lanes were tram tracks. They were converted to road traffic when Sydney closed down its tram system in the 1950s. It has pedestrian ways, cycle ways and, of course, motor ways. About 9 years later, Captain Francis De Groot officially opened it, on 19 March 1932.

Here are some facts about the bridge :

Finally, it will cost about 4.2 million Australian dollars; and 16 people will die during its construction.

But as we are unormal, strange and weird people. We didn't had enough by crossing it from one side to the other of Sydney's bay. We also needed to cross it by plane. It is reported that in 1943 a flight of 24 RAAF Wirraways flew under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with one of the pilots changing his flight path and going over the top of the Bridge. And on the 22nd of October 1943, Flight Lieutenant Peter Isaacson and his crew also flew under the Harbour Bridge, during a tour around Australia to raise funds for the war effort.

Some other ones prefered to climb the structure for having a better view of the bay. Bridgeclimbing started in 1998 and had attracted tourists but also locals to climb the monument. After climbing through catwalks and up ladders and stairs, the view is absolutely breathtaking. There are day, twilight and night climbs and a group of 12 people will leave for a climb every 10 minutes. By all reports, Bridgeclimbing is fantastic and one of the 'must dos' while on a trip to Sydney. I was actually lucky enough to get to its top, and it really is amzing. An if you are too afraid of heights, do as one of my freinds did: go at the Pylon Lookout to visit an exhibition about the bridge. You could as well have a 360-degrees view from its top. this Pylon is situated at the "Rocks END", in the South-Eastern part of the bridge.