Happy New Years everyone! We made it through 2013. This year I got to celebrate the new year before much of the rest of the world since Australia is second to get the switch after New Zealand.
In Sydney there is only one place to be on New Year's Eve and that is down by the harbor. There are millions of people that head there for music and food and fireworks!
We were extremely lucky because the lady we are staying with works for whoever puts on the show and she got us four tickets to a VIP viewing area right in between the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House (it's called Dawes Point).
This is what the day looked like. We woke up at 5:30am in Aukland to catch our 8am flight to Sydney. I stopped and got a stuffed sheep in the airport, because, New Zealand! The flight was about 4 hours but we lost 2 so we got in around 10am. We got a cab to our new stomping grounds in Glebe at these yoga students flat that they have been nice enough to let us take over.
When we got there we found out that we had these special tickets. At first we only had two, so Sami and I were going to take them but we ended up getting four and all being able to go.
We settled in, got some food at a place called Gourmet to Go that was actually the farthest away from that (it was a burger joint). Had a little picnic and we were off to the races. We left the apartment at 4pm and took a cab down to The Rocks, which is the downtown area that all this hubbub was happening at. There was already a crowd of people camped out to see the midnight firework display and we joined them.
After finding out that they did not open the gates for the Illuminate party until 7pm, we sat up on a grassy hill amongst the plebs who would spend their night watching from a still cool (but slightly less so) vantage point. Once 7 arrived we grabbed a spot in the massive line and made our way into the venue. We made the mistake of spending our time on the hill instead of in line and so we did not get chairs but it was nice sitting on the grass so it wasn't that much of a loss.
There were food vendors and a bar and a nice big stage. Turns out part of the pre-show included a concert by Empire of the Sun, which was pretty epic, especially since I wasn't expecting it at all! At one point when I was walking back from the bathroom the main singer jumped off the stage and walked right in front of me. I think I may have even accidentally cut him off...
However, the not so great part of the pre-show was my ever awesome brother having no shame, getting picked (pun!) for an air guitar contest, and turning it into a strip tease... Really not a pleasant experience for me.
Anyways, you get the picture, it was a grand party! Once the countdown happened, the fireworks went off and it was magic. These were seriously incredible. Hands down no fireworks display could beat this one, especially watching it from the best viewing place in the whole city!
The mob that followed would have been much more enjoyable had I not been extremely uncomfortable, awake since 3:30am (Aus time), and pretty lost. It was about an hour and a half walk back to our place and being that the streets were full of drunk humans they weren't allowing cars or busses into downtown. So we walked, and walked, and walked. Finally, after passing an apple store and hacking their internet to use google maps I discovered a way out.
We got back to the flat at 2am after jumping in a 10min cab for the last half hour of the would be walk. Being as exhausted as I was after being awake for almost 24 hours, I didn't actually get to sleep for a while, which is surprising. I successfully stayed up for exactly 24 hours from 2013-2014 so you know that's a good sign as to how the next will go.
It was quite a way to bring in the new year and I'm pretty sure I will never forget the start of 2014.
In Sydney there is only one place to be on New Year's Eve and that is down by the harbor. There are millions of people that head there for music and food and fireworks!
We were extremely lucky because the lady we are staying with works for whoever puts on the show and she got us four tickets to a VIP viewing area right in between the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House (it's called Dawes Point).
This is what the day looked like. We woke up at 5:30am in Aukland to catch our 8am flight to Sydney. I stopped and got a stuffed sheep in the airport, because, New Zealand! The flight was about 4 hours but we lost 2 so we got in around 10am. We got a cab to our new stomping grounds in Glebe at these yoga students flat that they have been nice enough to let us take over.
When we got there we found out that we had these special tickets. At first we only had two, so Sami and I were going to take them but we ended up getting four and all being able to go.
We settled in, got some food at a place called Gourmet to Go that was actually the farthest away from that (it was a burger joint). Had a little picnic and we were off to the races. We left the apartment at 4pm and took a cab down to The Rocks, which is the downtown area that all this hubbub was happening at. There was already a crowd of people camped out to see the midnight firework display and we joined them.
After finding out that they did not open the gates for the Illuminate party until 7pm, we sat up on a grassy hill amongst the plebs who would spend their night watching from a still cool (but slightly less so) vantage point. Once 7 arrived we grabbed a spot in the massive line and made our way into the venue. We made the mistake of spending our time on the hill instead of in line and so we did not get chairs but it was nice sitting on the grass so it wasn't that much of a loss.
There were food vendors and a bar and a nice big stage. Turns out part of the pre-show included a concert by Empire of the Sun, which was pretty epic, especially since I wasn't expecting it at all! At one point when I was walking back from the bathroom the main singer jumped off the stage and walked right in front of me. I think I may have even accidentally cut him off...
However, the not so great part of the pre-show was my ever awesome brother having no shame, getting picked (pun!) for an air guitar contest, and turning it into a strip tease... Really not a pleasant experience for me.
Anyways, you get the picture, it was a grand party! Once the countdown happened, the fireworks went off and it was magic. These were seriously incredible. Hands down no fireworks display could beat this one, especially watching it from the best viewing place in the whole city!
The mob that followed would have been much more enjoyable had I not been extremely uncomfortable, awake since 3:30am (Aus time), and pretty lost. It was about an hour and a half walk back to our place and being that the streets were full of drunk humans they weren't allowing cars or busses into downtown. So we walked, and walked, and walked. Finally, after passing an apple store and hacking their internet to use google maps I discovered a way out.
We got back to the flat at 2am after jumping in a 10min cab for the last half hour of the would be walk. Being as exhausted as I was after being awake for almost 24 hours, I didn't actually get to sleep for a while, which is surprising. I successfully stayed up for exactly 24 hours from 2013-2014 so you know that's a good sign as to how the next will go.
It was quite a way to bring in the new year and I'm pretty sure I will never forget the start of 2014.
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