It's a strange feeling when something you've always known was approaching is suddenly here. In my head Christmas and NYE in Sydney had always been my half way point of travelling and now it's here!? I'm officially heading into the other half of the year... Terrifying! Today, however, has been one of the biggest things on my bucket list to see and experience - NYE on Sydney harbour. We'd decided between us we were going to head down early to secure a good spot (we'd heard people camp out over night and queue from 6am for botanical gardens!). Katarina had come from Melbourne so was around from 7am so she'd managed to get a spot down by The Rocks which is where I'd dreamed of getting a spot! So once I was ready I hurtled down there to help her protect our spot until the rest arrived! The spot was utter perfection! We had nothing in front of us obstructing our perfect view of both the harbour bridge and opera house. I'd arrived at 10am so I hope the spot will be worth it come midnight!
While waiting for the other guys to join us we had a pathetic system of protecting our spot by having 1 towel, 3 tops, a scarf and a bag all sprawled out on the floor!
The gruelling 14 hour wait began just as the sun began to beat down on us... Other people were clearly more organised than we are as they brought loads of food, water and even tents for shade! Then here were are with our 1 towel and some sun cream... Spot the Brit huh?
We sat there amongst the continuously expanding crowd for about 3 hours before Steph and Hulio joined us. Me and Katarina had had enough of the heat so we decided to leave them the job of spot protecting and have a break to go grab some sushi. It's totally my new found food love while being here! It's fairly cheap and super fresh, not to mention a shop on pretty much every corner. Katarina had heard they were closing the gates at 3pm in preparation for the fireworks... You know, because they need 9 hours to do that, so we headed back for just before 3pm.
We sat for a further 3 hours, this time I'd snagged an umbrella which help me fit in with every Asian around us. Thankfully the sun began to set slightly and wasn't as hot and we'd started interacting with people sat around us (mainly because I think we'd got bored with each other!!). We'd buddied up some guys who had a spot right by the fence line facing the opera house, mainly just so we could borrow their spot to set up the camera! There were two firework shows - one at 9pm and the other at midnight. In the run up to the 9pm show everyone decided at once to go to the toilet but they'd closed the gates and by that I mean, they'd locked us in past where the toilets were! There was a queue a mile long (literally an hours queue) just to get out of our area then we had to queue again for the toilets! Crazy system but whatever protected our space I suppose...
The 9pm show/the family show was pretty impressive I must say, it mainly focused on the Opera House and the barges - they were gearing up for the big show! - but this allowed us to do a few practise shots with Katarina fancy camera!
After a FURTHER 3 hours later (you think you're getting tired of hearing this, imagine actually waiting it!) the area we were in was strangely quieter? I think people must have got locked out... But the area behind us was absolutely CRAMMED with people! I couldn't believe the difference an hour made! As everyone glanced at their watches ever few minutes and it neared midnight you could feel the atmosphere begin to electrify, it's quite amazing being around all that positive energy!... The countdown literally came out of no where -10! 9! 8! - the whole harbour was counting in unison as the numbers flickered on the screen taking pride of place on the bridge - 7! 6! 5! 4! - I had my iPhone recording in one hand, a GoPro in the other and my eyes not knowing where they wanted to look! - 3! 2! 1!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
The harbour boomed with colour and light from every angle I could see. Fireworks streamed from the bridge, shots high into the sky from the arches of the Opera House and every boat outline on the harbour glowed with orange lights! There was a huge roar of excitement and cameras began to flicker and flash like crazy, I found myself looking through my camera screen for the first few minutes before I thought 'WHY THE HELL!? It's right in front of me!?' So many people focus on getting the right photo instead of standing there and enjoying the moment (I mean I could think like this because I already had someone getting my awesome shots! But still...) so for the rest of the 9 out 12 minutes of fireworks I let my camera roll on recording as I took in the crazy surreal moment of being here on NYE! I didn't think it could get any better but the finale fireworks... Wow! The entire sky illuminated with light and colour and fireworks shot from every corner but the pièce de résistance was the Harbour Bridge and the waterfall of fireworks! Having seen it on TV I knew it would be amazing but standing there and seeing it was just something else!! Hands down the best firework show I've ever seen in my life!... Sorry Stockton Riverside!
After crowds had finally emptied The Rocks area we decided it would be nice to stay up, make our way to Bondi and watch the first sunrise of 2015. If we were staying up, coffee was vital! The only place that was open was 7/11 and their notorious $1 dollar coffee... Well as you can imagine, it's tastes like shit. We loaded up on it and jumped on the last bus to Bondi. We got to the beach at around 4:30am and it was relatively quiet so we popped a squat close to the water, laid down our blankets and bags and cuddled up to wait for the sun to peak over the horizon...
Thanks to the shitty coffee we were pumped with caffeine! So while Steph napped, me and Katarina played photographer and got some pretty cool shots in the morning sun!
As the sun began to rise, the beach began to fill up. There were people taking a morning swim and a morning surf... Others a morning skinny dip! But the majority of people just sat on their blankets quietly watching as the sun rose slowly...
Hands down today was my best day/experience I've had in Australia and it was one huge tick off my travel bucket list! For only the 2nd time in my travels was I left totally in awe of a place/experience and I shall never forget it!
I hope 2015 brings with it as much excitement, fun and friendship that 2014 gave me and I can't wait to see what adventure it has in store for me!!
Happy (belated) New Year guys!
x
