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It's a damned GORGEOUS harbour at the worst of times, and NYE is not the worst of times to be out on it.
The usual harbour ferries cease activity early on NYE and are decked out in lights and prepped to receive parties who've paid for a ticket. There are various degrees of cruises, with various promotions - ours was a family-oriented, no-alcohol one.
The view was pretty spectacular, even before midnight:
That's from the western side of the Harbour Bridge, looking back south-east to the Opera House. I don't know which 'tall ship' (old-fashioned style ship, although made to modern standards and with a modern engine, designed in early 1800s style) that is, but it made a pretty profile in the twilight!
What you may or may not be able to see are the crowds lining the harbour shore. They were packed DEEP. Most of the free shoreline picnic areas were closed by 2pm - that is, if you didn't have a paid ticket for some party event inside, then you weren't allowed in. Which tended to involve people trying to get around the security guards at the gatepoints, which meant other people clustered, hopeful of getting in if someone was being lenient.
This is right before the 9pm fireworks:
And this is right after:
And it me!
A really good shot of both Opera House and Harbour Bridge. This is from the east, looking westwards across the harbour:
The cruise was excellent: families and friends and introverts, all quite happy to sit and chat, play cards, read a book, or wander around the boat admiring the views. Because nobody was drinking, everyone was in a good mood with no belligerence, and none of the kind of people who are assholes and like to use drinking as an excuse to be extra-assholish.
And, of course, being on the boat out in the middle of the harbour meant we had the most spectacular views, because the boat pulled into the bay right in front of Circular Quay, so we had the Opera House to our right, the Harbour Bridge to our left, and the northside firework pontoons dead ahead.
It's basically perfect for pictures, photos, and sightseeing.
There were concerns about storms over the harbour, which wouldn't stop the fireworks, but would make watching them kind of nasty for thousands of people in the city.
There were thunderstorms (not right over the harbour, but you could see the lightning strikes and hear the rumble a little way away), various rains - light and a couple of heavy - and plenty of cloud cover. The cloud cover was fine, the rest of it was a little worrying, but both 9pm and midnight were at worst light spatter.
About 10 minutes before the countdown starts:
I did a livestream on my instagram (![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
seldear) of the 9pm fireworks show, which may or may not still be up when you read this post. Otherwise, there will be recordings of the midnight fireworks display from our major TV channels which broadcast both the fireworks and the radio music presentation that goes with it if you want to see the full thing.
And they're off!
There are several different fireworks stations around the harbour which runs east-west. The main ones are obviously the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and the northside pontoon, but there's a station out to the west in Miller's Point, and a station further east east, I think, in Elizabeth Bay.
The Opera House:
Northside pontoons going off:
The final sequence of fireworks off the Harbour Bridge.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
If you can afford the hefty price of the ticket for the night, I'd recommend the cruise for celebration NYE - yes, even for introverts (so long as you have other introverts in your party or people who understand introverts). B2 stayed inside most of the night and didn't venture out, reading the e-reader I brought along until the midnight fireworks. B1 went out walking but didn't talk to anyone (I think), and I struck up a conversation with a guy who'd been doing this for years and came back because he enjoyed it.
There was one fairly major (and, if you're superstitious, portentious) oopsie, though. The message that got flung up on the pylons of the Harbour Bridge once the fireworks had ceased did not bode well for those of us trying to leave 2018 behind...
Yes, that says "Happy New Year 2018".
NOOOOOOO....
Afterwards, B1 had booked a hotel for two nights (because they won't let you book just one over NYE) so we just moseyed up from the harbour to the hotel and avoided all the public transport snarls caused by the storm. Apparently lightning struck something at Central and delays and the pared-down public transport system (thank you, conservatives) meant people took hours to get home...
I think we might have been in bed before some of the people leaving the shoreline at midnight got on a train headed home. :/
Anyway, that was NYE on Sydney Harbour. I don't think we'll do that for another decade or so, but it was fun to do the once.
The usual harbour ferries cease activity early on NYE and are decked out in lights and prepped to receive parties who've paid for a ticket. There are various degrees of cruises, with various promotions - ours was a family-oriented, no-alcohol one.
The view was pretty spectacular, even before midnight:
That's from the western side of the Harbour Bridge, looking back south-east to the Opera House. I don't know which 'tall ship' (old-fashioned style ship, although made to modern standards and with a modern engine, designed in early 1800s style) that is, but it made a pretty profile in the twilight!
What you may or may not be able to see are the crowds lining the harbour shore. They were packed DEEP. Most of the free shoreline picnic areas were closed by 2pm - that is, if you didn't have a paid ticket for some party event inside, then you weren't allowed in. Which tended to involve people trying to get around the security guards at the gatepoints, which meant other people clustered, hopeful of getting in if someone was being lenient.
The cruise was excellent: families and friends and introverts, all quite happy to sit and chat, play cards, read a book, or wander around the boat admiring the views. Because nobody was drinking, everyone was in a good mood with no belligerence, and none of the kind of people who are assholes and like to use drinking as an excuse to be extra-assholish.
And, of course, being on the boat out in the middle of the harbour meant we had the most spectacular views, because the boat pulled into the bay right in front of Circular Quay, so we had the Opera House to our right, the Harbour Bridge to our left, and the northside firework pontoons dead ahead.
It's basically perfect for pictures, photos, and sightseeing.
There were concerns about storms over the harbour, which wouldn't stop the fireworks, but would make watching them kind of nasty for thousands of people in the city.
There were thunderstorms (not right over the harbour, but you could see the lightning strikes and hear the rumble a little way away), various rains - light and a couple of heavy - and plenty of cloud cover. The cloud cover was fine, the rest of it was a little worrying, but both 9pm and midnight were at worst light spatter.
I did a livestream on my instagram (
seldear) of the 9pm fireworks show, which may or may not still be up when you read this post. Otherwise, there will be recordings of the midnight fireworks display from our major TV channels which broadcast both the fireworks and the radio music presentation that goes with it if you want to see the full thing.There are several different fireworks stations around the harbour which runs east-west. The main ones are obviously the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and the northside pontoon, but there's a station out to the west in Miller's Point, and a station further east east, I think, in Elizabeth Bay.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
If you can afford the hefty price of the ticket for the night, I'd recommend the cruise for celebration NYE - yes, even for introverts (so long as you have other introverts in your party or people who understand introverts). B2 stayed inside most of the night and didn't venture out, reading the e-reader I brought along until the midnight fireworks. B1 went out walking but didn't talk to anyone (I think), and I struck up a conversation with a guy who'd been doing this for years and came back because he enjoyed it.
There was one fairly major (and, if you're superstitious, portentious) oopsie, though. The message that got flung up on the pylons of the Harbour Bridge once the fireworks had ceased did not bode well for those of us trying to leave 2018 behind...
Yes, that says "Happy New Year 2018".
NOOOOOOO....
Afterwards, B1 had booked a hotel for two nights (because they won't let you book just one over NYE) so we just moseyed up from the harbour to the hotel and avoided all the public transport snarls caused by the storm. Apparently lightning struck something at Central and delays and the pared-down public transport system (thank you, conservatives) meant people took hours to get home...
I think we might have been in bed before some of the people leaving the shoreline at midnight got on a train headed home. :/
Anyway, that was NYE on Sydney Harbour. I don't think we'll do that for another decade or so, but it was fun to do the once.
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Happy New Year!
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(Tall ship interlude: Unless they've re-rigged the sails on the Leeuwin II, it's not her, she only has one mast with square sails, and I think the Duyfken is a little smaller. Looks like a three-masted barque, which can have two masts rigged with square sails.)
The fireworks look like they were really lovely! I'm glad it was a nice experience for you all, and good thinking getting a hotel room! I can only imagine the traffic horror from such a central location :O
Happy New Year!