5am starts are not my thing. I was half hoping it would rain so we wouldn’t go and I could keep sleeping, but I sure I’m glad we went. It was an experience well worth the early start. I didn’t realise how lucky we were to get tickets, apparently over 190,000 people applied but there were only 6,000 spots on the bridge.

It was a mad rush to get to Milsons Point, our ticket said we had to get there by 6.30 otherwise we’d risk not being let on the bridge. We got there with minutes to spare only to join a kilometer long line for the 2 kilometer long walk to the picnic spot. The walk was pretty surreal, firstly from being in a daze so early in the morning, and secondly from the strange and weird attractions on the way. My favourite attraction was the free coffee. We automatically gravitated towards the coffee aroma for the much needed caffeine hit. None of us are morning people so it was funny that we all agreed to go.

In my morning daze, I didn’t realise each setup was one of the sponsors. First up was the Abbott’s Village Bakery display complete with a live jazz band on the back of a old ute.

Next was Cuttaway Creek with their raspberry jam banners, I don’t know how I didn’t see the raspberries on the banners. I think I was too distracted by the live band.

The coolest display was the live cattle. When Charles told us there was going to be cows on the bridge I thought he was just trying to trick us in our morning daze. He wasn’t joking, they were there, and they were real. If you didn’t believe your eyes, your nose sure would have convinced you, as soon as we walked past the truck that they were carried on, you knew it was real.

The first few moments on the grass were almost like a dream. It really was an amazing sight to see, you almost felt like royalty where the grass felt like the red carpet. Should have waved queen-like to the volunteers.

Once we settled in our spot, the flow of freebies began. And who doesn’t love free stuff? They weren’t skimp either, apparently Yalla yoghurt is quite expensive.

We were also given these green and gold hats which we were then asked to wear (for the money shot). I hope my hat wearing abilities help tourism Australia.

It really was an amazing experience. If you didn’t get a chance to go this year, I’d highly recommend trying next year. And a word of advice, try to pack up a bit early to escape the sea of people exiting the bridge.

I’m slowly uploading more photos from Breakfast on the Bridge to my flickr page. I don’t often update my flickr page, but I thought this was a well deserved event.