Life Trove: Sydney New Year Celebrations

Oh wow, we had the most fabulous New Year's Eve. Not suprising since we are living in the best place in Sydney to view the fireworks. Ring side seats from our flat window without moving a muscle.

Literally thousands of people descended onto the parks around our flat to watch but we were protected from the hordes by specially erected fences around the property. Doug, Claudia and Mat came to celebrate with us and needed special cards to get in.

We had a relaxing and delicous dinner in the comfort of our flat while the thousands below fought and jostled for position. Then we ambled down to watch the fireworks from our flat parking lot so we could take in the atmosphere.

The anticipation of the crowds was electric and hundreds of boats also arrived in the bay to watch. When they arrived, the firework show was truly breathtaking - 3 tonnes of rockets went into the sky - $ 11 million worth. A pyromaniacs wet dream.

In true organised Aussie style, there were two shifts of fireworks - one at 9 pm for the kids and then the grande finale at midnight. Only problem was that when the families left after the first shift, others were arriving for the late show and there was something of a crush - to the extent that there were parents handing their kids over the fence of our flat to protect them. Then the police moved in and strict laws were enforced. Hundreds were held back and not allowed into the park.

And of course, we were watching all the furore from our safe and spacious confines - oh the life!!

Below you can see the hordes of people - a view from our kitchen window. Many arrived before 10 am in the morning to ensure a good position - some even set up tents. Oh how they suffered through the hot and windy day while we watched from our shady apartment.

Here we are enjoying the atmosphere in the park outside our flat.

Of course, I had my camera out in an attempt to capture the spectacle. Very hard it is capturing fireworks - I had to do some research on the web to find the settings. Mostly its just trial and error - I clicked through the entire show and only got about 5 good shots. Thank goodness for digital!

The bridge of course was a centre piece in the spectacle with the Opera House in the background. Often in the UK we would watch the Sydney New Year celebrations on TV (Australia is of course one of the first to celebrate) - and I had to pinch myself that we were actually now here watching it first hand.

As the show proceeded, the firebursts got larger...

...and larger. The fireworks were not just over the bridge but in dozens of spots along the river and at one time the entire Sydney skyline was lit up. Photos of such event was unfortuntely hopelessly over exposed. Next year!

After the fireworks there was pandemonium as thousands started the hard work of making their way home. The river too was a flurry of activity as all the boats too headed for home. We ambled to the lift and made our own epic journey to the 14th floor.