New Year's Weekend in Sydney

We arrived in Sydney at about 10:30 a.m. on December 30 after two very uneventful and quite comfortable flights with Air Canada. Once we reached our hotel, the Sofitel Wentworth, it was still before noon. Fortunately our room was ready, and once we had changed for the weather - 30 degrees C and quite sticky - we set off for a walk down to Circular Quay. The preparations were already underway for New Year's Eve celebrations at the waterfront: the big orange plastic barriers were ready to put in place, temporary fencing was at the sides of the roads, and there were flatbed trucks loaded with port-a-potties ready to be set up. The restricted area stretched from the Quay up to Bridge Street, which is about 3 blocks from the waterfront.

We continued on our way out to the Opera House and saw that they were also putting up barriers to control access. A number of venues in Sydney sell tickets for access for the fireworks every year; these include the Opera House's Opera Bar and the Botanical Garden which has a couple of vantage areas like Mrs. Macquarie's Chair out on the point and the bleacher stands that are used for other events in Sydney Cove. We don't know how the tickets are sold, or how much they cost, but people sure were standing in lines to get in on New Year's Eve morning when the gates opened at 10:00!! But we're getting ahead of ourselves here.

New Year's Eve morning at the entrance to the Botanic Garden. This
was only the first group starting to collect. When we returned
from our walk, there were additional groups being kept farther
back, directed in when the lineup area was clear.

Our walk ended up taking us back around to The Rocks, where Ovation of the Seas, the other new Royal Caribbean ship, was in for the day. Larry had even forgotten about this ship, but it seems to have been sent directly out to serve the Australian and Asian ports. Preparations were also taking place for December 31st around the Overseas Passenger Terminal and into the streets of The Rocks.

We had a late lunch at what used to be the Löwenbrau Keller and found that sometime in the past 2 years it had turned into the Munich Brauhaus, and was now part of a chain. The food was still OK, but not as good as before, and the menu was not as extensive as it used to be. Oh, well, things change everywhere....

The menu has changed, but the old oom-pah-pah
band was the same. The Asian tourists
were lapping it up, too.

On Saturday morning we were up before the birds and the hotel concierge told us about some areas that were already closed. He suggested a walk to Pott's Point, beyond the Botanical Gardens, so we thought we'd give it a shot. We ended up walking 5.8 miles (Larry got a new FitBit for Christmas) by the time we returned to the hotel. Our route took us past The Domain which was being set up with 2 large stages, areas for food vendors, and....one of the biggest installations of port-a-potties we had ever seen!

We took a little time in the afternoon to chill before getting ready for the dinner cruise on the Sydney 2000.  We left about an hour before we needed to be on the wharf for boarding, even though the walk is not even 10 minutes; we had no idea how many people would be milling around Circular Quay. It was busy, but not too bad yet, and the tour company had limited access for ticket holders only set up.

Those of you who are on facebook will have already seen the video of the grand finale of the midnight fireworks, but here is something for everyone else.

Dinner was actually an all-evening affair, with the lobster appetizer first course served before the 9:00 Fireworks and the beef tenderloin main course and dessert served afterwards. Champagne toast at midnight and the boat was back at the wharf by 1:00.

There's no way to describe the fireworks, so we'll just post a bunch of photos and video clips. We have a full video/photo collage but it is almost 10 minutes long...we just couldn't find too much to delete!!

Not the best photo but you can see all the people in The Rocks
at the end of the Overseas Passenger Terminal.

Wow!!!! The most amazing spectacle we have ever seen!

One more day to recuperate - and marvel at how much of the barriers were taken down by early afternoon. We heard that there were about 1.5 Million people watching the fireworks, and that there were only 15 arrests. People still do know how to come together and celebrate. What a weekend; off to Melbourne tomorrow.