Sydney New Year 2010-2011

Andy and I celebrated New Year in Sydney 2004-2005 when we were on our Honeymoon and had an amazing time on the Sydney 2000 boat.  We cruised around the bridge and Opera House enjoying the trappings of the included bar and food served to your table before heading out onto the deck and watching the fireworks.  Amazing.

So, 6 years later and we are back in Sydney with 2 wonderful children who at 2 & 3 can now occasionally stay up a bit later.  There are however consequences of a late night the next day!

Anyway, we drove into Sydney with no dramas (see what I did there - spoken like a true Aussie!) and parked right next to the Entertainment Centre at Darling Harbour in a space right next to the exit barriers.  We walked through China Town which was buzzing.  I love taking the children through places like this, what a great experience for them to see a glimpse of different cultures with such ease.  I bought a cup of my new favourite drink bubble tea which was introduced to me by our friends in Perth.  I tried the caramel one this time which was delicious and had pearls in it which weren't as nice as the previous ones I had.  Very refreshing though.  We also bought some small Chinese cream puffs from a little window that had a long queue last time we were there.  There was a machine constantly chucking out this little sweet delights and lots of locals were buying them which is always a good sign!  They were good!

So we strolled through into Darling Harbour where everyone was starting to claim their pitch now, loads of people, some street performers and the stages were being set up for the music later.  We popped into the food Court at Harbourside shopping centre for tea and sat in an area where we surrounded by about 8 tables full of Asian people all eating McDonalds while we, the only white people tucked into plates of noodles, rice, springs rolls and tempura prawns!

I had researched and found a good viewing point for the 9pm family fireworks was Pyrmont Park, a free spot with toilets and a great vantage point of the Harbour Bridge.  We walked down, spread out our rug under a tree and waited for 9pm.  2 hours in one place with small people can be hard work but Finn & Isla were pretty good.  We had an ice cream and soon enough 9pm rolled around and the fun started!  There were 15 minute warning fireworks at 8:45 and Isla was a little way away from me at the time, she can running back to me saying "What's that noise Mummy????!!!!" but I whisked her up and her mild consternation turned to excitement.  Then 8 minutes of synchronised pyrotechnics on 3 barges that we could see.  Isla loved the pink ones and Finn the green!  Wow.

All too soon it was over and we walked back to the car in the crowds which had a great party atmosphere.  The police were out in force and rather than the patrolling in two's that we are used to in the UK they go around in gangs of 8 or so, they actually look quite menacing and a little like the military, all armed.  I think they are probably taken a little more seriously here because of it.  No messing around!  We saw a few 'crims' lined up against a wall with the fuzz stood in front of them and they were not giving any back chat or grief at all.  That was the only thing we saw all night though.

We had taken the children's jammies in car with us, so changed them and tucked them into their car seats, 20 minutes exiting the car park and they were asleep!  Then we had a clear run home and transferred them into bed while they were still asleep.  A great night had by all.  They woke at around 8:15 this morning and an early night tonight should see them OK.   

So, for New Years day we will be mostly spent lounging around in the house with the air con on or in the pool cooling off as it's going to be a sunny, hot day of around 35 degrees - phew!

Early on at Darling Harbour

 Our pitch for the night!

 Sky writing - we have seen this quite a few times now, and even from our garden - I can't believe we live somewhere that does this as common place.

  Someone proposed using sky writing on New Years Eve - sweet!

 Finn - peace.  Ha ha - he has learnt this from the Chipmunks apparently....

 Isla went AWOL.

 The 4 of us, if only Isla was looking at the camera....

 Valuable life lessons....  Beautiful dress for Christmas - thanks Grandma & Grandad!

The best night picture of the night that we got, the firework ones really don't do it justice so I won't include them.  I didn't take my SLR as I really wanted to just enjoy the spectacle with my peeps rather than worry about the shot.

Happy New Year!