People say that the most popular and best New Year celebration in Australia is in Sydney. I have always celebrated new year countdown either at home in Malaysia or in Melbourne city. Hence, I opted for something different this year - to do a countdown in front of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.
I never expected that the celebration in Sydney was so massive. Initially, we planned to only head to the countdown spot after dinner, like how I always did in Melbourne. However, to my amazement, everyone was flocking to Circular Quay at 11 am, ready with cartons of bottles of water, loaves of bread, packets of biscuits etc etc. When we arrived Circular Quay to have lunch there, we were shocked to see a big crowd there already. We even heard over the news that there were some who camped there the night before just to get a good spot to watch the fireworks.
Hence, since we were already in Sydney and already planned to countdown at Circular Quay, we did not want to miss out and started queuing to enter the venue and catch at good spot - since 1 pm! Funnily, all bags had to be checked before entering the public place; I guess to prevent party animals from bringing in drugs or glass bottles that might injure people. Apparently, they were also counting the number of people entering the place to limit a huge crowd gathering there.
I never expected that the celebration in Sydney was so massive. Initially, we planned to only head to the countdown spot after dinner, like how I always did in Melbourne. However, to my amazement, everyone was flocking to Circular Quay at 11 am, ready with cartons of bottles of water, loaves of bread, packets of biscuits etc etc. When we arrived Circular Quay to have lunch there, we were shocked to see a big crowd there already. We even heard over the news that there were some who camped there the night before just to get a good spot to watch the fireworks.
Hence, since we were already in Sydney and already planned to countdown at Circular Quay, we did not want to miss out and started queuing to enter the venue and catch at good spot - since 1 pm! Funnily, all bags had to be checked before entering the public place; I guess to prevent party animals from bringing in drugs or glass bottles that might injure people. Apparently, they were also counting the number of people entering the place to limit a huge crowd gathering there.
Queuing in the hot sun
The booths where guards were checking our bags
The long queue at 1 pm!By the time we passed the security check, it was already 2 pm. Never have I been so crazy enough to wait for a countdown for 10 hours - in summer, under the hot sun! As tourists, we were not equipped with foldable chairs and big beach umbrellas or even carpets or bed sheets that we can sit on. So imagine how much my parents, youngest brother, Chin Fei and I had to endure under the scorching heat that what seems like eternity to us since the sun sets later in summer!!!
The small crowd at 2 pmSince we were in the vicinity, we decided to take pictures with Opera House and Harbour Bridge but we also couldn't wander too long because we had to book a good spot for photography too. Haha. :P
The crowd at 4 pm!
The crowd at 6 pm!!
A plane performance above Opera House
The crowd at 7.30 pm!!There were many bars there celebrating New Year eve and we were amused with what the visitors wore that day, in particular this picture below:
So colourful like icecream colours! :PLike Melbourne, there were 2 fireworks countdown in Sydney, one at 9 pm and the other at midnight. The 9 pm fireworks is for children and it is not on the Harbour Bridge but at other places but we could still see it from our place. :)
After the 9 pm fireworks, the lightings on the boats were switched on and it gave such a pretty sight to the harbour.
By 11.30 pm, being the "kiasu" people, we moved in closer to the harbour railings and got ready our cameras. :P The midnight fireworks was spectacular - much nicer than Melbourne's!
Was the 10 hours wait for the spectacular fireworks in the scorching summer heat worthwhile afterall? The following photos tell you our answers! :)
Yes, indeed!! :)
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