Celebrating the New Year, Sydney style, Australia Part 3

Links to Parts One and Two.

After sailing, we made our way to a teeeeeeeny tiny airport with a single departure gate in Proserpine. From there it was a hop to Brisbane then Sydney. We took the train into the city and a bus to North Sydney where we were staying in a hotel. By this point in the trip, I can't even describe how happy I was to be in a king sized bed with an en suite bathroom. It's the little things that are important in life, like full length showers with consistent hot water. It all felt so luxurious after nine nights of hostels and boats. Sydney is built around a stunning harbor with an iconic bridge and the famous sails of the Sydney Opera House.

It was overcast and raining off and on when we arrived. We walked out to find dinner and head to our planned fireworks vantage. The skies opened and dumped water everywhere. So, we headed back for an umbrella and went to dinner nearby. Then we headed out to Barangaroo Reserve. The beautiful Sydney Harbor Bridge was between us and the Reserve. We followed a huge crowd out and realized that the bridge was closed for the first fireworks show at 9 pm. Sydney has an early one for families and then the main event. They fancy 'round here. We ended up following the crowd to a park to catch the first show and decided the view was better than it would have been on the other side. This side was right over the Sydney Opera House with a side view of the bridge. And, it was free. I like all these things.

We then hung out for three hours vying for space until the main show started. At the countdown, the crowd went nuts, yelling each number from 10 to one. Cell phones lit up all around us. The show was amazing! Fireworks exploded over the Opera House, from the bridge and all down the river in both directions. The show lasted over 12 minutes. Some people filmed the whole time. It's kind of ironic, right? They're watching this amazing thing happening all around them through a screen so they can watch it again later. Weird. I took a short video clip and some photos here and there, but it's cooler to actually watch the show. Sydney puts on a hell of a NYE show. It was worth it. Most vantage points cost money up to $1200/night (that one includes an opera, fancy dinner and fireworks show). YouTube has a WAY better video with all the vantage points and the actual music if you want to enjoy the whole thing.

The next morning we met up with Carl and Jane (from the sailboat) to do a Sydney walking tour. It was really good. We saw all sorts of cool things downtown and learned some of the history of both Sydney and Australia. For example, 150,000 prisoners were shipped to Australia from England. That's a whole ton of people going about as far from England as humanly possible. Afterward we wandered the Royal Botanical Gardens.

One of my bucket list items was to see a symphony at the Sydney Opera House. I was worried there wouldn't be an option with the holiday (aside from the $1200 NYE package, no thanks). Instead, right where I wanted it was a symphony of the Beatles songs. Perfect! We were Americans listening to British music in Australia. Anyway, we arrived a bit early to walk around the building, have a glass of wine and enjoy some macarons. The show was really good. The symphony included four gentlemen with fantastic voices who alternated singing the songs. During intermission we went to the front of the building which has lovely harbor views with the weird Luna Park amusement park shining across the water.




The final morning we walked to a gluten free cafe I read about. Turns out it, like many other businesses, was closed for the start of the new year. Right around the corner was a delightful little cafe that made me amazing avocado toast and even provided a free GF pastry to split. The service was incredible. From there we hopped a bus and wandered Sydney Harbor National Park by the zoo. It had a nice little walking trail with water views and a secluded beach. We took the ferry across the harbor just to enjoy the views, then headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport.


Part Four