We arrived in our hostel in Sydney on the 30th December absolutely shattered from Cambodia after a 36 hour transit, so rather than planning for New Year’s Eve, we collapsed in the comfiest bed we have slept in for months and woke up after 10am on New Year’s Eve!
A quick look at our map and we headed out with a coffee to do a little sightseeing on our way to Sydney Oprah house passing the town hall, Hyde park cathedral, the observation tower as well as many shops and restaurants.
There are many free and unticketed vantage points from where you can watch the fireworks listed online and on billboards around the city along with directions on how to reach them and which are already full so finding our way around town and a good spot to see the show was pretty easy.
We reached the queue for Macqueries Point stretching all the way back to the entrance of the botanical gardens a whole 2 hours back. We thought we would try our luck closer to the bridge so headed up Macquarie Street past the parliament buildings, the Quay and The Rocks to Campbell Cove.
It was still early in the day so went for food and a couple of pints before reaching the cove. We were rewarded with views of both the Oprah house and the bridge!
We picked a spot as the crowds grew bigger behind us and sat and waited for the show! The only problem was it was a very long wait and our late start to the day meant we had not come prepared with anything. Everyone around us sensibly had brought blankets, umbrellas and most importantly food. We turned up in the clothes on our back and a camera!
We watched the air show at 5pm… only another 4 hours more to wait until the small display at 9pm.
A snooze in the sunshine later not daring to give up our position and the 9pm preview show started behind Sydney Oprah house.
Just 3 hours more till the big show! I’d watched the Sydney fireworks as a child on tv and coming to see them became my first ever travel wish. I still couldn’t believe I was here as I looked out at the harbour and all the boats lining up.
At 11pm we decided to stand up as people started to surge forward to get a better view. At 11.30pm we double checked that we had enough battery and memory on our cameras. At 11.55pm everyone’s gaze was on the bridge waiting for the countdown….We didn’t hear it until it reached 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, Happy New Year!!!
The show was incredible and certainly well worth the wait!
Hope everyone had a great night to welcome in 2017. Stay posted for our best of 2016 and as we look forward to our travel plans this new year!
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