New Year’s Eve in Australia is a big spectacle. People line up from 9am on to find good spots by the Opera House and across the Harbour Bridge to get the perfect view of the midnight firework show. There are numerous reporters everywhere recording people’s reactions throughout the day. Tickets for a lot of the good view spots were over $200, which is crazy just to stand for numerous hours to watch the fireworks.
This year was slightly different because of all the smoke in the air and the extremely hot temperatures for New Years Eve. It reached 105 degrees on the eve and the air was super dry. Smoke had still filled the skies from previous fires and wind gusts, so the city was in a fog and I was unable to see the bridge from certain points around Sydney.
Since there has been an abundance of fires here, many wondered if the fireworks were actually going to happen. There has been a total fire ban on the whole region. People were petitioning to have them cancelled, but the firework display had been being planned for 15 months and the budget was in the millions, which had already been allocated. There were also suppose to be festivals and firework displays in the outer suburbs, but they all were cancelled. The harbour bridge display prevailed and it was beautiful.
I had the opportunity to have a barbecue poolside with a bunch of my oz friends. I wanted to go into the city, but transport was not all night long in most areas and the traffic was going to be terrible when trying to come back after the display. And I did not want to stand in that heat for 14 hours.
Overall, it was similar to how I would spend New Years Eve in the states. I had the chance to hang out with friends and do the whole countdown. It was cool to be able to experience a hot New Years though, where you can countdown to midnight in a pool.
