Traveling the World

Tag: Bridge

Climbing the Story Bridge

by Sean on Feb.15, 2010, under Australia

Bridge at Night

As I climb up the stairs hanging from the underside of the bridge, I feel a bit nervous and my hands shake. It’s pitch black tonight and there are barely any lighting to assist our ascent. I’ve already peed once, if not twice, and already feel the need to go again. We reach street level via access stairs from below. Construction on this bridge began in 1935 during the Great Depression. The bridge had no purpose other than as a public works project to boost the economy and get people working again.

After we stop at street level, we begin to climb 30 feet, 60 feet in the air. It is a clear night and we can see the surrounding areas of the city with great detail. We are asked to stop and take pictures (which they will then try to sell to us later). 200 or so odd workers worked night and day for 5 years to get this bridge open for public use. When they weren’t working, they were at the local pub at the base of the bridge.

On the Bridge

As we get further away from the ground, the air thins and becomes cold. The wind is strong enough to thrash us about, but we’re safely buckled to the bridge with sliding clamps. We take more pictures and move to a part which connects the left and right sides of the bridge, allowing us a full 360° view of the surrounding area. During the construction, roughly 1.25 million rivets were used to hold the bridge together. At the time, safety gear was not used and so people had to tightrope walk along the prefabricated girder sections to hammer them in place.

We reach the bridge’s highest part, which is 80m or 240ft from the ground. Looking down is not a pretty sight, but screaming at the passersby proves fun. From here we walk down to the middle of the bridge and across. As we do so, our guide tells us that in 5 years of construction, only 4 deaths occurred. One man fell into the water and drowned, another fell onto the land, a third was hit by a tram on his way home from work and is counted as an on the job death, and I forgot what happened to the last person.

As we begin our ascent back to the top so we can return home, I feel nostalgic. I am reminded of home (minus the river cutting through the city and the bridge on top) and my family, and how much I miss them. I am grateful for the chance to experience Australia, a country so far away from Florida. With a renewed sense of pride and happiness, I climb on. The guide mentions that the bridge committee originally planned to knock down an entire street and move it over so the bridge could be built, however at the end of the bridge was a pub that the locals loved. So much in fact that they convinced the architect to instead move the bridge over so the pub could remain intact. In the end, the pub renamed itself after the bridge.

Certificate


We climb the rest of the way, descending back down the stairs via the tunnel going through the street level. We find out the bridge is named after a local man named John Douglas Story, who was a senior public servant responsible for garnering interest to build the bridge. After we took off the safety gear, I ran off to that pub to try their food, where I met up with one of the couples who went on the bridge climb with me. They invited me to sit with them and we chatted whilst I ate an amazing calzone.

If you wish to do this, you can contact the Story Bridge Adventure Climb website. You pay $89 either by credit card or cash upon arrival. They are located in Brisbane city at 170 Main St. in the Kangaroo Point area.


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