A New Year's Eve Spectacular

Before this year, I wasn't aware that there was a theme for the New Year's Eve celebration in Sydney, but this year it was "Time to Dream," which was perfect because bringing in the new year there was an absolute dream come true. I remember being a young child at one of our neighborhood New Year's Eve parties and watching a brief clip on NBC of fireworks going off all around a structure that resembled a massive sail. It was before the whole concept of international traveling ever entered my mind and possibly around the time when I was just beginning to understand the idea of timezones, but I recall thinking how amazing it must be to see in person. Even though it was just on television, all the bright lights and loud music fascinated me.

Well, ten-year-old me, it truly was quite a sight to see. Unbelievable. Magnificent. Perfect. Days later, I'm still in a complete state of awe.

At Makoto Sushi Bar

My New Year's Eve adventure started with a long coach ride from Melbourne to Sydney, but somehow I was fortunate enough to have both seats to myself again even though it was just about a sold out bus. We arrived in Sydney almost an hour ahead of schedule so I took my time making my way to Emma's apartment since I didn't want to wake her up too early. Once I made it to her place, I took a much-needed shower and then a short nap in the afternoon. I had meant to meet another friend earlier in the day, but I was feeling a little too sleep-deprived so I headed over to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair a little later to see what I would be in for the next day. While I was there, I ended up randomly talking to a small group of girls from Canada, South Africa, and the US and we made arrangements to meet back in that area on the following day since it had a great view of the opera house and bridge. After that, I met Daniel from my Urban Life Group who was visiting Sydney and his friend from home for some sushi, which was a fantastic choice.

Since I had been told I should arrive at the gardens early for New Year's Eve, the next morning, I woke up around 6am and was out the door by 7am to get in line. Imagine my surprise when I got there and found my new friends close to the beginning of the queue..... but who had been waiting

Waiting for midnight... before 10am

there since 10:30pm. And I had thought waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square since 4pm had shown dedication!

I ended up joining them in line and waiting for one of my other friends to arrive and for the gates to open at 10am. When the authorities finally did start letting people in, we began walking over to our planned location, but then we came across an area that would be restricted to 3000, I think, people. We decided to get wristbands so we could set up a blanket there and also one at our planned spot since one of their friends wouldn't be getting out of work until much later, meaning she probably wouldn't be able to get into the restricted area. It worked out well since Kat entered the gardens too late for the restricted entry as well so there was a comfortable place for her to sit when she did arrive.

It was a sweltering day and I definitely wouldn't have been outside if I didn't have to be, but good conversation helped the time go by relativelyquickly and I was more than happy to be there. Since our group was split up, we rotated places every once in a while so that we could talk to different people. I would say that it was a pretty good arrangement.

At 9pm, they had the Family Fireworks and then at midnight, of course, came the main event, which was nothing short of spectacular. There were moments when the fireworks lit up the sky so brightly that it looked like daytime. I experienced a bit of camera failure when I realised just a few seconds before the finale began that I had run out of memory, but everything else was amazing.

If you're interested in viewing any part of the show, you can click on the link below to see the televised version::

I have high hopes for this year and can't wait to see what 2012 has to offer. Happy New Year!