One of my biggest annoyances about living in Auckland is that the only way to cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge was via car or bus – so whilst my apartment would have been within feasible walking distance to the city, it was utter impossible to walk it.
Sydney has at least got this right and their famous harbour bridge is crossed by car, train, cycle and foot, which offers an excellent chance to see the bridge up close and get some amazing views over the city and harbour.
Views don’t get much more iconic than this. Amazingly hot dude and some building thingy in the background.
It’s an easy walk to get to if you’re a tourist – you just need to take the Northern Rail line Central, Wynward or Town Hall train stations and depart at the Milsons Point railway station on the North Shore, which is right where the bridge crossing starts for both pedestrians and cyclists.
Both the train and driving across the bridge offer views, but it’s nowhere near as excellent as checking it out on foot – and of course driving across will incur you some lovely tolls.
It’s hard to get a sense of scale – for reference there are two rail lines running through the right side tower, each capable of fitting a double decker train though it – or in the case of the left side, a road lane and a pedestrian path.
If I find my current 1 bedroom CBD apartment rent painful, I’d hate to think how much these places would be costing…
Sydney Opera House!
There’s one metric fuckload of steel in this.
It’s also really high!
Circular Quay, the international passenger terminal for cruise ships and the rocks.
I love these apartments at the city end of the bridge for being a neat varying stack of towers and roof gardens, but at the same time hate it’s blocky concreteness.
Interspersed concrete and greenary awaits at the end of the crossing – descend the steps to end up in “The Rocks”, the heritage part of Sydney
The crossing is well worth doing, it’s a real shame that Auckland hasn’t added a walk and cycleway of their own – not only is it a great recreational addition, but it also makes the lifestyle choice of walking or cycling to work from the North Shore feasible.
