Happy New Year!!

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The whole reason for me being in Sydney at this time was to see the fireworks. I've always thought that New Year's Eve would be better off celebrated in the middle of summer, rather than winter. It's always too cold and miserable outside back home!

Happily, when I checked in to the Collaroy Beach hostel, I discovered that they had an organised trip to the fireworks. Every year they bag a spot in one of the few BYO areas close to the fireworks (by sending a couple of their staff to camp overnight from the 30th, to make sure they get it) and they ran shuttle buses to and from the site. The spot they'd reserved for us was fantastic. When we got there we couldn't believe how close were...we were right by the Harbour Bridge, on the north side, facing across to the Opera House.

Due to the sheer numbers of people who watch the fireworks, you have to get there early to get a decent spot. I was on the 11am shuttle with Sasha and Sheena (the Canadian girls), which got us there for about midday. This meant we had a twelve hour marathon ahead of us. We'd packed a picnic so we didn't go hungry, and of course lots of alcohol. It was just so hot, though, that we just drank water all afternoon until it cooled off a bit. Lots of other people from the hostel starting drinking straightaway so by 4pm they were drunk and lairy already. At this point I started to wish we'd gone somewhere else, as I didn't exactly want to spend my NYE with a bunch of p*ssed up Brits and Germans. However, I realised that the ones who were drunk by mid-afternoon wouldn't be able to last until midnight...and I was right.

I think part of the fun of the experience is the fact that you're there for so long. The atmosphere really started to build as it got dark, and when the family fireworks went off at 9pm everyone was up on their feet and cheering. So when midnight finally came around everyone went mad, just shouting and cheering and screaming and hugging each other. The fireworks themselves were just fantastic. As well as the Harbour Bridge theree were fireworks from barges along the river and from a few buildings in the CBD. Our spot meant that we couldn't see the fireworks from the barges that well, but our view of the Harbour Bridge more than made up for it. The fireworks lasted about ten minutes, and after they'd finished a procession of boats adorned with red and gold lights, which had been sailing around the harbour all evening, all sailed out one after the other under the Harbour Bridge. An amazing night!!

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Photos

Happy New Year!
Told you we had a good view of the Harbour Bridge!

Sheltering from the sun
A different use for my umbrella

Counting down
The harbour bridge at sunset

Comments

[Chris K-R]

Wow-ee
So it did live up to expectations then - what a brilliant set of pics, I'm so jealous! Hope you're having fun with Sean and that the rain has stopped... believe me, it can't possibly as monumentally crappy as January life in London. Really. Sending love xx