New Year’s Eve – Sydney Style

Being that Sydney is one of the first cities in the world to delve into the new year they certainly go all out.  (They aren’t the first city, just one of the first ones.)  Yup, New Year’s in Sydney is something else.  At various time throughout the day on December 31st streets around the harbour and the Opera House start to shut down starting around 11 am until 4 am, so getting to the fireworks takes some planning.

Figuring out where you are going to watch the fireworks from also takes some planning.  We saw folks heading towards different vantage spots early in the morning with blankets and coolers.  A lot of the best areas, say around the Opera House only allow in a certain number of people before they call it at capacity and seal it off to additional people.

You understand why they have to start closing streets off as you make your way towards the harbour.  There are just so many people out there is no way you could contain them to sidewalks.  I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere this busy before!  We had booked a harbour dinner cruise for New Year’s…probably one of the best ways to try to catch the fireworks!  You better have your ticket or else you won’t get anywhere near the dock…

Sydney had a bit of a theme going and had asked folks to wear a touch of blue…as they were trying to go all out with as many blue fireworks as possible, the most difficult ones to create.  I didn’t realize this when I was packing or else I would have brought a blue dress, but I found something else in the suitcase that would do.

As we set sail around the harbour we passed the odd barge…spots were set up all around for fireworks to go off, not just on and around the bridge.

Sydney really gets into the spirit of things by having family fireworks go off at 9 pm for an eight minute show.

There were quite a few boats out on the harbour, and all of them had lights on them in different designs to increase their visibility.

Time flew after the first set of fireworks and before I knew it, it was midnight and the real spectacle started.  12 minutes of amazing fireworks all around – the bridge in front, off of barges to our side and behind us, and off of the buildings in downtown.  Absolutely unreal!

My pictures do not do the show justice since I couldn’t hold the camera still enough for the full exposure time.  So if you want to see the show, check out the video here.

And with that, it is officially 2010!  I cannot believe how quickly 2009 went.  It really felt like it flew by.  It was a year full of new PRs (5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon), plus it saw my first Olympic and half Iron distance triathlons.  Plus, I even won my age group at my one sprint triathlon of the year.  2010 looks to be even bigger and better…literally…as it is officially my Ironman year!  It should be an interesting journey.

Happy 2010!!!!