New Year's Eve in Sydney

We arrived in Sydney and took a cab over to our hotel in North Ryde, a northern suburb. It is amazing how much things cost here, the fare was $91! We checked into the hotel and asked the concierge about where we can go see the fireworks tomorrow.  He suggested that we go to the train station about 1 block away and take the train downtown, and then follow the crowd. I had done some research before I left home and knew that there was a park not too far away that had a perfect view of the harbor bridge and the opera house called Blue Point Reserve and it turns out it is only about a kilometer walk from a train station. So we had a late breakfast, walked up to the train station, and bought a 1 week rail/bus/ferry pass for each of us, knowing we were going to travel about the city for the next few days and it would be much cheaper than our original “Cab Plan”.  So we bought seom snacks for the day. Check out the pineapple flavored M&M's. The snacks are very different here in the land down under!

The train system here is awesome, quick, efficient, informative, and very clean. The gates at the park (free), didn’t open until 12 PM, so we boarded the train at 11AM, and walked the short distance down to the park. Guess what, they didn’t open the park at 12, they started searching bags at 12 to prevent folks from carrying in alcohol, so there were already thousands of folks there.   

We wandered around a bit before Jenn found a shady spot (summertime here) for us to spend the day waiting for the show.  See my feet below, we were right in the middle of the Sydney Bridge!

We settled in and began our wait. We soon began a conversation with 2 lovely ladies Cass & Nat (1 from Sydney, 1 from Perth), and spent the rest of the day in awesome conversation with them. 

We talked about all kinds of things, each giving their insights into their respective countries. We laughed a lot and talked a lot about food differences. We had to explain the nuisances of Pecan Pie, while Cass tried to explain Vegemite. Nat said that during her visit to the states she fell in love with “Denny’s” and Cass said she really wanted to eat at an IHOP someday.  In a display of international detant, I promised Cass we would eat some Vegemite and Tim-Tams (chocolate covered cookie)  before we left. Really intense conversation “international” discussions, and I am sure the world is a better place as a result of this chance encounter. What a great way to spend the day, great company, great weather, and a tremendous view.

 Nighttime finally came, and by the time the show began it was standing room only, 10’s of thousands of people. 

We had strategically positioned ourselves along a short stone wall during the day so the height impaired among us (me, Erin, Cass, Nat) would have a great view once thing started.

 As the crowd started to build during the day, I remained vigilant to “defend the wall”, as everyone began to see the advantage of our position. After many failed assaults on our position, we could finally climb up on the wall as the show began, and what a show. The local paper said that they spent $7.6 million on the show including 11,000 mortars and 25,000 rockets, colors and combinations I have never seen before. JUST WOW.  We could only get video of the fireworks, so check out Jenn's picture section for that. Again the view, the company, the weather, the show couldn’t have been better.  Jenn and I look at each other during the evening and although we didn’t speak, I know she was thinking the same as me, “ What a perfect night, and how lucky we feel to be here”. 

We watched the shows, but had to wake Erin up for our last one, then we bade farewell to our new Aussie friends and headed for the train. Thank god for my days of playing football. In working our way back to the station, with Erin’s hand firmly in my grasp, I lowered my shoulder and just pushed my way through the crowd, clearing a path for Erin to follow, knowing Jenn would follow close behind. We finally got back to the train and were soon back at the hotel. A great day and we feel blessed to have experienced it.