Being in Sydney for New Years Eve was right up the list of must-do experiences for this trip, especially as we had missed out two years before. We spent some time researching the best places to see New Years in Sydney and having read many other blogs we ended up agreeing with them - it was totally worth paying the extra for the best seat in the house, and getting what we felt were front row seats without having to sleep over night in a queue and wait all day in the sun (only to probably end up behind a tree!).
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| Our view as the sun went down |
So, we booked tickets to The Point within the Botanical Gardens. Situated on the waters edge by Mrs Macquarie's Chair, with THE view across the harbour overlooking both the opera house and the bridge. The only obstruction were the boats in the harbour, but once the fireworks got going at quite some height, we forgot the boats were even there!
Entry was from 5.30pm and we got there for just before 5pm, which was early enough to have choice of the range of seating along the waters edge. We picked a picnic bench which would sit six, but we were only joined by a friendly Dutch couple which was great.
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| Our spot... and a bottle of bubbly! |
The live music struck up, the bars opened and we dug into our picnic boxes with appetizer, cheese and biscuits (for later) and quinoa and rocket salad, which were included.
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| Lunch... or is it a dinner box? |
As we took in the view and the sun began to set the atmosphere rose in anticipation.
Dinner was from a selection of food stalls including Asian, Australian, Moroccan, Greek etc. You could eat as much as you liked from the stalls, so we enjoying tasting all the delights whilst waiting for the 9pm fireworks and got ourselves the first of a couple of bottles of bubbly, which was surprisingly reasonable, if you take into account where we were, at $40 AUD each.
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| Fireworks... |
Dessert followed the 9pm fireworks with a choice of 200th botanical garden anniversary cupcakes, fresh fruit lollipops or a meringue pudding. The food alone was enough to keep the evening flowing and make the wait for the spectacle a short yet fun experience.
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| More fireworks... |
There was also a Tarot reader, who told Julia she would meet someone in March that would help make a decision about what is coming next in 2016. So we will just have to wait and see if that is true!
The fireworks we heard were worth $7 million and we could totally see how!
The 9pm fireworks, put on for the kids, was almost as spectacular as the midnight ones.
Huge bright bursts of colour in the sky set off from a barge in the harbour below. The theme was the city of colour and we marveled in the beautiful range of colours that were exploding above our heads.
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| ...and even more fireworks! |
But, when the countdown came and midnight struck, WOW is all I can say.
You really have to be there to experience the noise, spectacular views and shear scale of the show. We were in awe of the organisers and designers of the fireworks which were bursting from all directions, so much so we didn't know where to look!
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| Sydney puts on one hell of a show! |
The signature waterfall of fireworks coming down from the bridge really was a sight to behold in itself, and the size of the busts from the barge were so huge they spanned almost right over the harbour from above.
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| Wow... just wow! |
It was a very special evening and one that we will most certainly remember for a long time to come. We really did start 2016 as we mean to go on!
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