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This sounds exciting... A glass platform outside of Sydney Tower...

Sydney's first skywalkers
By Jano Gibson
October 17, 2005 - 3:08PM
smh.com.au

Vertigo sufferers be warned: Sydney's latest tourist attraction is an overhanging, glass-bottomed platform perched a dizzying 260 metres above the city's streets.

Skywalk, a $6 million outdoor structure featuring a series of "daredevil walkways" on Sydney Tower's golden turret, was unveiled today.

Among the first to don the mandatory colourful jump-suits and to sample the "on-the edge outdoor adventure" were journalists - including some with a fear of heights.

But despite the high-altitude and gusty southerly winds, stunning views across the city helped distract any fears and all were able to step onto the glass-panelled deck that hangs over the edge of the tower.

About 60,000 people - many of them international tourists - are expected to pay the $109 admission fee for the 90-minute high-adrenaline jaunt over the coming year, said James Fulford, CEO Sydney Aquarium Group, which runs Skywalk.

"Skywalkers will enjoy the thrill of literally walking across the city skyline, enjoying unrivalled views of the world's most beautiful harbour and as far afield as the Central Coast and Blue Mountains," Mr Fulford said.

Mountaineer Peter Hillary, who has scaled Mount Everest twice, said the attraction was designed to meet a demand for "urban adventure".

"We can go surfing out at Bondi or come up here to Skywalk for an adventure where there's lots of exposure and an exciting outlook," he said.

"Coming up here is a wonderful way of looking out at this gorgeous city."

Skywalk took four years to design and just three months to construct using more than two kilometres of steel and 4376 nuts and bolts.

It will go head-to-head for the tourist buck with BridgeClimb, for which 1.5 million people have forked out at least $165 to traverse the Harbour Bridge since 1998.

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