Sydney NYE

Just as this year was my first Christmas away from home, it was also my first New Year’s Eve. Having taken up my buddy Rob’s offer of a place to crash I decided to spend NYE in Sydney. Everyone has seen what the Sydney NYE fireworks look like on TV, they’re mighty spectacular. Turns out that Sydney’s NYE is actually the world’s biggest New Year’s party attracting crowds of 1.5 million people. To put things in perspective, Times Square in NYC attracts approximately 1 million people. So obviously it is a BIG deal! Normally I end up in a club on NYE, but I didn’t come half way across the world to do exactly what I do back home, I came here to see the big show.

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The day started off with me and Rob plotting our journey, which park to go to etc. See, being NYE obviously we want to have some drinks. For NYE there are alcohol-permitted parks and dry parks, and anywhere with a good view is obviously dry. The only alcohol permitted park we could find that was remotely close to the Harbour Bridge was Bicentennial Park. Before we set off, we mixed a bottle of champagne with some OJ, and put it in a backpack. And so our journey started... We got to Bicentennial park and realized that the view was shit, there was another bridge blocking the view of the Harbour Bridge. Thankfully with our smartphones we plotted a course to the Balmain East Wharf which was not listed as a vantage point in the Sydney NYE website, so it should be alcohol permitted right? So after our 6.8 Km trek ON FOOT we got to Balmain East Wharf to discover that it’s a dry zone and cop central. F@#$!!

So at the park it was really busy, and unfortunately dry. We were able to get primo seats for the fireworks, but unfortunately there was at least 5 hours until they started. A lot of the evening was spent watching the cat and mouse game going on between the cops and the kids next to us drinking goon and smoking weed. We also witnessed a couple enter a port-o-potty together, and a guy get arrested which erupted in the crowd cheering (must’ve really been a dick). As the evening passed, police presence increased and they started searching bags. Thankfully being well dressed and minding our own business, we were left alone (and didn’t have our mimosa bottle confiscated/poured out). 

AWESOME!!

There are two fireworks shows over the course of the evening. The first one is around 10:00pm and is the family show. This is catered to those with small children who might not last the wait till midnight. It was nice as it was starting to get long waiting till midnight. When the countdown finally began, sadly we got it wrong a few times. Since our vantage point was behind the Harbour Bridge, the numbers on the screen were backward. Also what threw us off was that the countdown started at 90 seconds. Finally the new year came and I saw what was one of the best fireworks shows ever! Overall the trek was well worth it! Both me and Rob were completely drained when we got home, especially as it was 2:30am by the time we walked back. We walked almost 14k, and I was wearing my dress shoes... Me feet were thoroughly blistered! If you’re in this part of the world during the holiday season, you’d be a fool to miss out!