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Published: January 16th 2007
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With Christmas over, we next had to contend with the build up to New Year. As always, I behaved like a complete spoil sport and refused to look forward to celebrating the arrival of 2007 (or 2008 as I told my parents I was really looking forward to - got a little confused as to actually what year it was - whoops!!).
The morning of the 31st Dec was spent debating what we were going to do that day/eve. Loads of people from our hostel made their way over to the gardens opposite the Opera House at 11am as they were determined to get the best views of the fireworks. We opted out of this as none of us could bring ourselves to que for hours and then sit for 13 hours waiting for midnight. Finally Jo, Leigh, Bekka, her boyfriend Adam and myself decided to head down to the harbour about 4pm to see what was happening. We picked up some vodka on the way which we managed to smuggle through security and by 5.30pm we were sitting on the steps of the Opera House watching more and more people flood in. At that time the wind was picking up
and the clouds looked suspisiously dark gray, but Adam kept insisting it was not going to rain. There was a 'childrens' display schedualed for 9pm and I was certain that after hours of sitting in the cold, by the end of the children's show I would be ready to leave. However 9pm hit and the initial taster of fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House were so amazing there was no way I was going to leave (I think a number of plastic cups of vodka may of helped warm me up and mellow me out). Just before they went off, a guy from the Daily Telegraph approached Bekka and Adam and asked if he could take a photograph of them kissing whilst the fireworks went off in the background. Me and Jo insisted that he should also take some picture of us to publish in the paper too, we even asked if we could be put on the front page if he got a picture of us kissing - he seemed quite keen on the idea but reluctantly admitted it was not his decision what pictures went where.
A few more vodkas and some crazy singing later,
the next 3 hours flew by and it was midnight. There was a count down projected onto the bridge and then the whole sky erupted with amazing bright lights and colour. It is very difficult to describe just how fanatastic it was to be standing there in the middle of thousands of other people watching one of the most spectacular displays in the world. We managed to squeeze ourseleves right in front of the steps so had the best view, it could not have been more perfect! After the fireworks everyone spilled out of the harbour and headed up into town. We had all bought tickets for a bar on Darling Harbour so we met with the girls there and had more fun dancing and drinking. For someone who hates New Year, I had such a fab night and was so so so happy I had stuck out all the hours of waiting to see the fireworks at 12. I rang home and screamed down the phone to ma and pa how amazing it all was.
The week after New Year was spent visiting some of the beaches on the outskirst of Sydney and generally chilling out. I caught a
bus to Coogee beach one day and walked along the coast to Bondi. I was told it would take about 40 minutes, however an hour and a half later I finally reached the shores of Bondi. I didn't mind though as it was a lovely walk with amazing views of the coast and I topped up my tan also.
One afternoon we went to a bar called Minus 5 which is made entirly of ice. We all doned large coats (well apart from me who decided to wear an all-in-one suit which made me look a little like I was a 2 year old dressed up in her winter baby-grow but also about to fix someones boiler), Ugg boots and gloves and were let lose on the ice sculptures. It was quite cool (literally!!) as absolutly everything was made of ice, but I was a little bit disappointed with my vodka cocktail which was clearly peach shnaps. A worthwhile experience though. My last week was also much improved by being lucky enough to find myself a lovely man who spoilt me with a few nights in a hotel and some yummy meals.
On our last Saturday in Sydney the hostel
bar held a Swedish night. This consisted of cheep vodka and a few Swedish flags being hung round the bar. Steph, the entertainment guy from our hostel asked us if we would take on the task of painting Swedish flags on everyone in exchange for free champaigne (or cheep sparkling wine). Bekka plaited all our hair, we gave each other random Swedish sounding names and answered 'Ja' to everything. A great deal of fun was had carrying out the task and the drunker we got, the more paint went everywhere. It was a really good night and much fun had by all.
On the 8th Jan we said goodbye to the Wake Up and caught a flight to Melbourne. I only had two nights there before jetting off to Perth (which is where I am now). I only had a day to explore Melbourne but really liked what I saw. Me and Bekka have now extended our stay in Oz by a week so that we can return to Melbourne and see the Great Ocean Road.
I am now with my family in Perth and Bekka joined me today. Jo will be here in a week and we will explore
some of the West Coast.
Tales of the Jacoby family all to come....xxx
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