28th Dec 2011 - 14th Jan 2012 Happy New Year to all from the best place in the world to celebrate new years- Sydney!
We started the end 2011 by queuing for 3 hours across the Domain in the Botanical Gardens. We had decided we didn't need to waste hundreds of dollars by going to a private event and decided upon the free event at Mrs Macquarie's Point as we love the view from there. But turns out when they say the site capacity is 20,000 people they aren't lying. So we joined the queue at 11.30am and joined thousands upon thousands of others. It started off a little cloudy which was great because we would have been burnt standing in the open all day, the crowds kept coming in droves and the time passed reasonably quickly as the queue kept moving. The gates had opened at 10am but we heard and seen people had been camping out the night before and other stated queuing from 7am.
So we got through the security check points and looked for a good place to park our bums for the next 9 hours. Mrs Macquarie's looked like it had reached the 20,000 already it was mobbed. We got a good space and spread out our blankets facing straight at the harbour bridge. Only thing was, being a botanical garden, there are too many damn trees. So we were a little obstructed but we were just so excited to be there. It has been a wish for me for many many years to celebrate new year in Sydney and we weren't disappointed. The sun came out and we had to take shade under our umbrella as it was so hot. The day passed by with us eating our sandwiches and chocolate from our cool bag and by getting beers from the van. There was some things to keep us amused like a plane leaving smoke writing, everyone was getting excited wondering what the word were going to be but think it was some religious rubbish. Some of the writing said “Are you going to heaven?”, “How?”, “Trust Jesus”, well it still passed the time and we had an acrobatic plane and even the police helicopters flying over joined in the fun by waving at us.
At 9pm it was time for the family fireworks which were great all colourful for the children (but we would have been happy if that was the main fireworks). We sat around for a little longer then nearing midnight people (including us) started to jostle around trying to get closer to the action. And then the countdown on the bridge started and then midnight!! And wow did the new year start with a bang... 7 million dollars of bangs to be exact! The theme for the new year was 'time to dream' and there were fireworks in the shapes of butterflies, clouds and my favourite- hearts. We cheered, we took photos, I sang auld lang syne and we toasted the new year in. (Now we did have a great time but we feel we must say for anyone ever coming to Sydney for new year the only way to celebrate is do go on a harbour cruise, they definitely get the best views, and if we ever come back we will only go on a boat to celebrate new years).
After the fireworks and excitement had ended we cycled home past all the drunks and I gave my family a quick skype before getting 3 hours of sleep before we both had work. Work was double time again so that helped and then we skyped home which was lovely. Had a nice meal out at night to celebrate 2012!
Had a normal first few weeks of the new year, just working at going out for dinners and movies as normal. We went to the worlds largest IMAX cinema to see the new Mission Impossible film which was really good but the stunts Tom Cruise done were scary, and they screen which is 8 stories high really added to the effect. We got discount vouchers from work which was a bonus. We have also been to the cinema to see Sherlock Homles which was good too.