Thursday, January 04, 2007

More from New Year's Eve

Picnic on  New Year's EveThe New Year's Eve fireworks in Sydney are famous, and we heard that over a million people come out to watch them. We headed out to Sydney harbour and hoped to find a good spot to watch the display, but even with a start in the early afternoon, everything was simply jam-packed. Barricades everywhere, jostling crowds, lost tourists - it felt like a madhouse! Luckily, thanks to Jeanine, we had a backup plan: we took a bus to the zoo, where she had special staff tickets for the evening. The zoo was pretty full, too, but we found ourselves a nice picnic spot next to the giraffes, and settled in for the evening. (Notice the person sticking out of the tent next to us - that's a sculpture!) Our spot had a rather nice view of the opera house and the bridge, which displayed a flashing question mark where the evening's motif would be revealed.
Dusk panorama

As dusk settled in, boats gathered in the harbour for the best views, like a thousand glittering points of light...
Boats gather in the harbour

And then, on the dot of 9 pm, the family fireworks began, lighting up the harbour and the skies overhead. It was a short display, but quite spectacular.
Fireworks, bridge, opera house

The question mark became a coat hanger, which is the nickname for the bridge, and later on, a diamond motif was revealed to commemorate the Diamond (75th) anniversary of the harbour bridge. The Coathanger with fireworks

After we enjoyed our picnic and the early fireworks, we decided to head back. The streets were swarming with revelers as we made our way home. As midnight came, we rang in the New Year from the comfort of our own deck, with spectacular fireworks over the Iron Cove...



From our deck

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