Day 15: Happy New Years!

Hunter and Chris prepared a tremendous surprise for us for New Years Eve – they managed to rent a yacht (a 41 footer) for the 15 of us, so that we could sail out into the harbor and watch the fireworks! Since a lot of the fireworks are shot off from right near the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the bridge itself, the harbor is one of the best positions to watch it from. Apparently Sting thinks so – he was out in the harbor with us, although on a pricier boat, at 35K for the night!

Having the boat was really nice since we didn’t have to worry about the crowds on shore, and could cook our own food during the evening rather than having to survive off of junk food all night (which is apparently what most people did, from the looks of the grocery bags I saw them carrying to the harbor). Plus we could supply our own tunes, not worry about losing stuff in the crowds, and even got to sleep on board.

The fireworks themselves were spectacular – not only were they shot off barges and the bridge, but also off about 10 buildings in downtown! And there were at least 4 other sites up and down the harbor that were running the same set of fireworks in unison, so you could see the blasts across your entire field of vision. And the sound across the water was just stunning.

Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera battery before the evening started, so I didn’t take many shots, but I don’t think any of them would’ve worked anyways. I can’t wait until Hunter gets his shots developed! Those that I got are in the Sydney album.