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Published: January 2nd 2008
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Claire and Woody in their 'spot' waiting for NYEHad a lazy morning as we had to stay in Sydney centre as the roads and trains were going to be mental with people coming in to see the fireworks. Decided to walk round to look for the gate that we had to go through later that day. After being directed all over the place we finally found it and realised it was not that far from our apartment which was brilliant. We then walked up the main shopping street and looked at some shops, there were loads more people than we had seen before and an air of anticipation. We tried to get up the tallest building in Sydney that rotates but they had a dress code and as we were in shorts and tee shirt had no chance!!! So we hopped on the monorail and rode above the city back to Darling harbour to walk round the other side. This was buzzing with people and even some that had set up camp for later.
We found two seats in the shade in 'Home' bar and had a couple of drinks to stay cool! We then walked to the flat and got ready for our night. After we had made
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The Entrance!! ourselves look beautiful (!!!) we walked towards Circular Quay, it was not too bad and there weren't that many people around as most off the public sites were closed due to capacity. We were quite near the front of the queue but early so had to wait till the gates opened at 7.
Once we had been barcoded and tagged we were through and found ourselves what we thought was an amazing spot to view..... we were sat right in the middle with an uninterrupted view of the bridge. We collected our picnic which was amazing, starters of croistini, dips, onion and tomato tart followed by chicken
and noodles, cheese (which was just what Woody wanted!) and chocolate brownie. The drinks were reasonable and we were ready to be entertained!!
There was an egg timer on the bridge that was counting down each hour and at 9pm the first fireworks went off. They were a bit dissapointing as there weren't many on the bridge but at two different locations miles apart from one another and for us almost entirely behind trees. These ones were for the children though so we didn't mind too much.
Time ticked on and we were
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The picnic entertained by a live singer and his heavily pregnant wife and all the people around us. To be honest the atmosphere was a bit flat and people were just waiting for the main event. In the true spirit of NYE I managed to knock over a whole pint followed by a bottle of champagne that I was trying to 'hide' from people when we left our seats! The grass had a lovely time!
Just before 12 I was dying for wee so joined the back of a HUGE queue..... the egg timer was going down but I finally made it with 5 mins to go - phew!
Midnight struck and the fireworks started, to our amazement and disbelief not on the bridge but at these two other locations....
We could not believe it!! From thinking we were in the perfect place we slowly realised we were not going to see much...my heart sunk. Half way round the world for some fireworks through some trees.....
There were bits and bobs on the bridge but not the spectaculare display were we expecting..... about 8 mins in the finale started and in the end the fireworks started on the bridge!!! They were really
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Nice .... good but short and a bit of a let down..... after they had finished we were a bit shocked and weren't sure what to do..
We stumbled home through the millions of people and Woody suddenly went on a mission to find another pub but they were either closed or not letting people in.... made it home and fell disapointedly into bed.
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erin
non-member comment
Wow wweeeeee
Hi chaps! So lovely to read your blog and see all the fantastic things you have been up to! Can't believe you're in Australia and what a marvellous time u are having! You've put such a lot of effort into your comments and pictures - it's brilliant! The zoo and beach trip sound great as does the hustle and bustle of the city. Can't wait to ready the next installment. Bit of a shame about the bl**** fireworks though - how annoying! I can't belieive it and feel so sorry you were diaspointed! We saw the new year in at the Castle pub in Lydford - listening to the church bells at midnight! Hope you had a brilliant Christmas. Ours was lovely, spoilt rotten as usual! Although I had a stinking cold/chest infection which lasted the whole festive period. Back at work now though and look forward to catching up on your blog to cheer me up through January. PS Saw Em - she is well but ready to pop - sends her love as soon as anything happens I'll let you know xxxxx