This year New Years Eve was another stinking hot day. This is my first Christmas and New Years in Sydney in over 20 years so I decided to make the most of it and join the 1.5 million plus people along the foreshores of Sydney Harbour to watch the 9 pm and midnight fireworks to welcome in 2017.
I had booked a 5 day minimum stay months in advance at the YHA Sydney Harbour but Balcony tickets to watch the fireworks were already all sold out before I booked my stay and there was a long waiting list.
I had repeatly researched the vantage points to see the fireworks that night on the harbour but still had no idea of where to stand to watch them.
I spent the morning at Sydney Living Museum where I am a member and had a look at Sand In The City. Basically this was one room with a rather large sand sculpture , a video about beaches and a whole heap of lego to play with. There were also 2 small sand pits which had colour projections over them creating the illusion of multi coloured sand.
(Photos attached)
I probably spent half an hour there and another half an hour looking around the 2nd floor of the museum before leaving to do a quick shop at Coles Wynyard Station before heading off to the MCA where I planned to spend the rest of the afternoon inside the members lounge as I am a member of the MCA as well to recharge my phones for tonight's fireworks and have a cool glass of water from their fridge provided, while I watched the foreshores of Circular Quay fill up with families camping out since early that morning to grab a good vantage point to see the fireworks that night.
When I arrived at the MCA, the members lounge was not open but the museum was full of people therefore I had to get reception to open up the members lounge for me. I stayed there until around 4.45 pm as the MCA shut at 5 pm.
My plan was to be near by so I could still get a good vantage point along the foreshore of Sydney Harbour before each of the gates were closed as vantage points reached capacity. I chose Campbells Cove in the end as it was not too far from toliet facilities and food trucks and had views of the Opera House to my right and the Harbour Bridge to my left. East Circular Quay had already reached capacity by 5 pm therefore the gates on the Opera House side had already closed.
Once the gates closed there was not really a pass out. 5 pm to 12 midnight is a long wait yet people had been camped at Campbells Cove since early morning. Some more organised people set up tents eskys and folding deck chairs to shade themselves from the heat and keep cool but mostly people sat on picnic rugs ,towels , even cardboard boxes that were flattened. I only had a handful of plastic bsgs with me which I had grabbed from my shopping at Coles Wynyard. I sat on those as I had forgotten a picnic rug! They did the job for the night although not the most comfortable.
I had plenty of bottled water and snacks with me in a cooler bag as well as cheese strawberries and a loaf of bread for if I become hungry. I also had my workmates rather large fig hazelnuts dark chocolate bar she had given me for Christmas to keep me going through the night. I had been saving this for New Years Eve.
Most people kept themselves occupied until the pre 9 pm fireworks entertainment commenced by eating, drinking, playing games, talking, taking photos and social media. I could not get reception at all on my phones therefore could not access any social media on either of my phones - complaint to Telstra and Vodafone about the network bottlenecks!
Pre 9 pm fireworks entertainment included an aerial display in the sky, a tugboat spraying water on the harbour and a traditional Aboriginal welcome which commenced with projections on either side of the Harbour Bridge's pylons followed by a "test" or single red fireworks flare.
Then came the 9 pm fireworks for the kids. After the 9 pm fireworks I did expect a mass exit but no one left. All the families and children stayed for the midnight fireworks.
After the 9 pm fireworks there was the harbour lights. If you haven't been to VIVID Sydney - the projections on the pylons and the Harbour lights are very similar for both events - talk about recycling!
In between the 9 pm fireworks and midnight fireworks I thought it would be a great time to queue for the toliets - the lines for the portaloos were lengthy therefore I may have needed the entire 3 hours to get access to a toliet! No loo paper of course therefore always be prepared with toliet seat covers, wet wipes, soap or hand sanitiser and a packet of tissues! The lady behind me was so greatful when I gave her some tissues after asking someone if there was any toliet paper in the portaloos. She offered me some hand sanitiser but I was ok. By the way be prepared for the stench of the toliets - some antibacterial spray would also come in handy!
I lost my original spot to watch the fireworks but managed to sit just behind where I was.
All outdoor areas were alcohol and glass free therefore the entire event was almost incident free. There were quite a few security guards around and areas are closed off when they reached full capacity.
I did witness one incident though right behind me where a few men in a small group wearing red glittery hats started to have an altercation with a security guard accusing one of them for following them around for the past 2 hours. This security guard ended up getting 2 fellow security guards as backup - one phoning her supervisor the other being asked to continue to follow the man in the red glittery hat hopefully to escort him out of the closed area.
In between the 9 pm fireworks and midnight fireworks there was plenty of entertainment behind the fenced off party area behind at all the waterfront restaurants including background music and Brazilian dancers.
The midnight fireworks finally came and what a spectacular show all 12 minutes of it to a music simulcast. I did think some parts of the fireworks were quite boring but that was probably to allow time to swing your focus and camera between the Opera House fireworks barges and the fireworks spraying off the Harbour Bridge.
Mass exit after 12.15 am New Years Day. I wasn't sure which direction to take back to the YHA but knew it was on Cumberland Street so followed the crowd along Cumberland Street.
What a sight it was - thousands of people making their way up Cumberland Street from The Rocks towards Wynyard Station.
If I had to make a comparison it would be a similar sight to the thousands of runners, joggers and walkers at the starting area and after the starting gun has gone off at beginning of the annual City to Surf on College Street making their way up William Street - except in the dark!
(Refer youtube videos of mass exit along Cumberland Street and private video of midnight fireworks which unfortunately has no sound due to copyright - first time this has happened to me when uploading a video onto youtube unedited from an event)
(Photos attached - oops sorry just realised fireworks photos are on my other phone - tba !)
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