December 31, 2019

We landed just after 8 am Sydney time. 89 degrees. Our check in time wasn’t until 3 pm but after some negotiation I was able to get it moved to noon. I had applied for an Australian Visa last month. It is all computerized and it shows up when the customs agent scans your passport. Getting our luggage and getting through customs was a breeze.

We took an Uber to our room. The building has hotel rooms and apartments and we left our luggage behind the front desk and we were able to check out the city. Our goal today was to decide if we would be able to see the fireworks, check in to our room, find a grocery store, laundromat, and gym.

The fireworks were at the harbour area and the best viewing sites were at a premium. I wasn’t sure how we would feel after the long period of travel so nothing was booked in advance. The city was obviously gearing up for loads of people. Many streets were already blocked. It was early but there was little traffic. Obviously, most folks had the day off.

We walked by the Royal Botanic Gardens. Some of the best views of the fireworks happen here. $550 each for the evening. We passed.

The Opera House was the next area for viewing. It was early morning and people were already sitting on the steps for the show.

We knew that this area would be overwhelmed by the time we were ready to watch. The next area was an area called the Rocks and we decided that this would be our best option. It was very close to the bridge and had views of the Opera House.

We headed back toward the Hyde Park Plaza and walked through Hyde Park.

Check in was easy. Keys were left in a mailbox and I was sent the code.

We unpacked, went to an IGA down the street and loaded up on groceries. Terri made dinner and then we went to bed. Enough time remained to get some sleep and see the show.

It was 8:15 pm when we woke up. Time to get going if we wanted to see the “family” fireworks display at 9 pm. We did get to the Rocks in time but the area was jammed with people. We saw a few fireworks overhead but missed most of it. We spent the next hour working our way down to an area under the harbour bridge called Dawes Point.

It was a popular place and had many police controlling the entrance.

After an hour or so wait we were able to get a good spot.

We camped out here for the main midnight show.

New Years Eve in Sydney!

These fireworks are seen by 1 billion people worldwide. It still did not meet the level of the Bastille Day Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower in Paris we saw a few years back. Bastille Day fireworks are definitely a 10. Compared to those, I give these an 8. Spending $6.5 million Australian isn’t enough to match the French!

The walk back to our apartment was interesting as the streets were jammed with people. Not the typical drunk fest I was expecting. Most folks were just happy to be out.