Sydney's Harbour Bridge is no secret; in fact, it's one of the most instantly recognisable images from Australia.

Within 20 minutes or so of me landing in Oz, my friends were driving me across this world-wide icon in all its glory. Over the following weeks, I went OTB (over the bridge...generally referred as going over the bridge from south to north) on the bus, the train and on foot. But it wasn't until my friend Toni's birthday that I had experienced the most exciting and spectacular way of crossing it...

Early in the morning, we got up at 5am and watched the sunrise over the Bridge from Mc Mahons Point while we ate our breakfast. Little did Toni know what I had in store for her… Later that day I picked her up from work, and took her to BridgeClimb for a birthday surprise.

We were decked out in fetching grey one piece numbers, which looked like giant baby suits, and kitted out in full climbing caboodle. Everything was attached to our clothing with little hooks, and we even had headlamps and special straps for our sunnies. For safety reasons, you can't take anything loose (including cameras...which is a good thing, as no one would ever make it around if they were stopping for pics every few seconds!). After a trial climb up some stairs, we set off up like intrepid mountaineers set to conquer the fabulous structure.

Before long, we were in the thick of the Bridge, going through it, admiring the engineering and watching the world go by below us. Fortunately neither of us are afraid of heights, as this was actually the moment when we felt most vulnerable; aware that we were suspended high above, attached only by a wire!

A short while later, we were on a level with the cars, people, bikes and trains crossing the Bridge itself, and clambering up several steep ladders, hoiking our little chains a bit like prisoners all in a line... but feeling infinitely superior as we were doing something few people get to do! Soon after that, we were on the curve of the famous arch itself, being told stories about its history and people who died during its construction...

The view was simply spectacular as we ascended to the top; we could see right across Sydney to the Blue Mountains and out to sea at the other side. The bright lights of Lunar Park and the tall buildings of the city beckoned in the distance. The weather was just perfect as we stopped for pictures with icons like the Opera House in the background, and joked around in our oh-so-sexy giant jelly bean outfits, looking windswept at the top. We descended as twilight was coming on, hanging back at the end to see the sunset - beautiful. Excellent fun and a very successful birthday surprise. I'd highly recommend it for any travellers to Sydney - and for Sydneysiders of course - no harm in being a tourist every now and then!