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Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve started off worse than desired.  It's never a clever idea to start one of the biggest drinking nights of the year with a whopping hangover!  Again, this was Karen's fault (luv you Kaz!).

Luckily by the time the festivities had started in the late afternoon, I was on the road to recovery and my first couple of beers directed me onto the motorway, a means by which Recovery could be reached all the more quickly.  We boarded our boat at Darling Harbour and sailed round Sydney for about 3 hours or so until the first lot of fireworks started at 21:00.  The harbour is equally impressive to see by night as it is by day and the Sydney skyline is magnificent.  A huge buffet was provided to keep our stomachs full and free alcohol to ensure the same was true of our bladders!  Unfortunately there was a 30 minute wait for the bar, but we already had a plan for that.  We carried double the amount of drinks for the group, which meant putting cans of beer in jeans pockets, shirt pockets, anywhere they would fit.  However, we soon realised that drinking quickly and copiously was not such a good idea.  There was also a 30 minute wait for the toilets.  Anyone who has "broken the seal" before knows only too well that you rarely get a half hour warning before you need to go next!  We slowed the drinking down considerably as it really wasn't worth the pain.

We stopped for the 9 o'clock "childrens'" fireworks about a kilometre or two away from the harbour bridge and had an unobstructed view of the city.  These fireworks were amazing - they were just as impressive as the one's I'd seen in New York on July 4th - and they were only the kids' ones!  Midnight was set to be something very special.  We set off round the harbour again.  More food followed - gigantic plates of oysters and fresh tiger prawns.  Wicked!  I spent most of the rest of the night walking round the outside of the ferry, making regular stops (as you can probably imagine) at the buffets whenever I was near them, and taking in the sights of Sydney by night.

A few hours later it was time.  We stopped at the same spot with our untainted view and patiently waited.  10...9...8...7...the countdown had started and was displayed on the side of one of the Bridge's pylons - 6...5...4...two million people were turning their heads skywards - 3...2...1.........HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!   The spectacle that followed is hard to put into words.  It made the 4th July look like a rather bad light show in a dodgy Ealing club - say The Boulevard - and it was many, many, many times more impressive than Bastille Day in Strasbourg (which is itself pretty exhilarating to watch).  I haven't seen footage of this year's show, but London's usual attempts at fireworks on NYE would, by comparison, be about as exciting as a flickering candle.  The sky literally lit up and the reflections on the water in the harbour made it seem almost as bright as day.  There were fireworks going off everywhere: from barges along the harbour, from the tops of the skyscrapers in the city, and lastly of course, from the Harbour Bridge itself.  It was, quite simply, the best fireworks display I have ever seen and even that doesn't do it justice.  The whole ferry errupted when the Bridge fireworks started and, despite booing a very cheeky boat that cut in front of us at this untimely point, blocking our view, broke out an overwhelmingly loud rendition of "I'm H-A-P-P-Y, I'm H-A-P-P-Y, I know I am, I'm sure I am....I'm H-A-P-P-Y!".  Proof that everyone had had an excellent time!

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