G’day mates!
Today was a long, but awesome day. We woke up around 3 AM in order to catch our 6 AM flight to Sydney. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to New Zealand, with our eyes set for the Land Down Under…Australia and just in time for New Years in Sydney! We jetted across the Tasman on LAN’s CC-CQE, killing time by watching some movies, catching up on reading,, eating some breakfast, and, most importantly, sleeping. After arriving in Sydney and clearing customs and immigration (stinkin’ shoes...twice now hiking has caused us to have to declare items on the arrival document causing “special attention”). We checked into our awesome hotel in the central area of Sydney, freshened up a bit, and then headed out to stake out our spot for today’s primary activity…welcoming in 2012 from Sydney Harbour. We were able to stake out a PHENOMENAL spot at the Opera House with views of downtown, the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House shortly after noon and quickly became our home for the next 12 hours. We then killed time with 6,000 of our closest friends snoozing, playing games, reading, and eating…all under umbrellas to protect us from the crazy sun! Around 6 PM the festivities started with an airshow, followed by boats queuing for the harbor parade, a cleansing of the harbor, and finally the family fireworks show at 9 PM. The fireworks were incredible and they seemed like they were coming from all directions…however, this was nothing compared to what was to come at midnight. Following the family fireworks, the parade of boats went around the harbor displaying lights. A DJ played music nearby and kept us energized. At midnight we all stood in anticipation and a fifteen minute fireworks show of EPIC proportions began…seriously, it was awesome! The wait was definitely worth it. The whole crowd counted down in unison..."5, 4, 3, 2, 1..HAPPY NEW YEAR!" After bringing in 2012 we headed back to our hotel (in a surprisingly orderly and expedient fashion despite the streets being flooded with people as far as the eyes could see) and crashed out.
