Van rolling to Oz

New Year 31 Dec 2006

After the usual "what shall we do" debate, we decided to go and watch the Sydney fireworks on NYE. We set off early to our vantage point, in one of the many parks lining sydney harbour. We were close to the harbour bridge but not in the town centre side, so were mostly surronded by families. We arrived at 3pm with cool boxes full of wine and cheese, several picnic blankets and a big bag of ice, and settled into our spot. It was a lot of time to kill! It threatened rain on a few occaisions, but we were lucky and it stayed dry. At 9pm there was a early display which illuminated the big coat hanger on the bridge. Each year a different symbol is put on the harbour bridge and there is a lot of secrecy about what it will be when it is lit up on NYE. It is usually a badly kept secret as the outline of the lighting configuration usually gives it away. A red question mark had been lit up as part of the Christmas lights, and the full coat hanger (the Bridge's nick name is the Coat Hanger) revealed at 9pm. A lot of the families cleared off after 9pm and more people arrived carrying blankets and slabs of beer ready for the main event. The fireworks were great- as they always are. The bridge was lit up with hundreds fired into the air off the top. Each bay around the harbour let off their fireworks in unison, so it was like a reflection looking across the harbour. We walked back up to the car afterwards, and slowly made our way home through the crowds. It was well worth the effort and I for one thoroughly enjoyed yet another great Sydney tradition.

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