History on the Harbour: Before BridgeClimb there were Sydney's 'social climbers'.

Often when I’m chatting with visitors to Sydney or even just having a brag down at the pub, people ask me if I’ve ever climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. My answer is “three times, twice legally”.

The first dawn climb, December 2002. My first legal climb (Roderick Eime)

Everyone knows the famous - ‘iconic’ even - Sydney attraction known as ‘BridgeClimb’ launched in 1998. It was a big deal because the founder, Paul Cave, had taken 10 years to overcome a wall of bureaucracy to make it happen and at the time, it was the first such attraction on a bridge anywhere in the world.

Are you a collector or a hoarder? Here are some interesting assortments.

Look on any of the online auction or sale sites and you’ll quickly see that people collect anything and everything. From antique farm machinery, Barbie Dolls and matchboxes through to airline sick bags (unused I hope!) and even entire aircraft.

In my travels, I confess I am drawn to these eclectic collections and have found all manner of museums and private collections dedicated to the most bizarre items all across the country. Indeed, I confess I have ‘micro collections’ of such things myself including vinyl records, postcards, lapel pins, old Matchbox cars and good old-fashioned stamps.

A random selection from my button 'pinback' collection. Most date from the early '80s.

Here are some photos I have taken myself when visiting these museums as well as ones supplied by the museums themselves when mine weren’t up to snuff.

Weird Museums: A message in a bottle. Clunes VIC

You have to be suspicious about any town with a bottle museum. Surely it would take a population of dipsomaniacs to produce a sufficient quantity of empties to fill a museum, or in some cases, to build a
house or public chamber from discarded beer bottles.

History in the Hunter: A mosey round Morpeth

Something we found out straight away was that one day is not enough time to visit Morpeth in NSW's Lower Hunter Valley. It may be a small and ornate historic town with a compact village atmosphere, but it has a heart that beats as vitally as ever. It comes alive on weekends when day-trippers throng the main street, scrutinising the curiosity shops, tea rooms and bakeries.