NY Sydney

Okay, it’s been a while. I always have the best intentions to blog more often, then life comes along and wrestles time away from me. Still, looks like my Full Nelson has won this round; so blog away I will.

Ever since I can remember, we Cassons have wanted to see Sydney’s NYE’s fireworks in person, and up close. Watching this amazing city herald in the New Year on TV via the BBC was always time well spent in front of the gogglebox. When we eventually moved to Oz in 2009 we were one step closer to seeing those amazing fireworks in person. However, what we’d seen of them up to this point had been in other areas of Sydney and not with a view of the iconic Harbour Bridge.

In 2018 that would all change as we could finally (had to wait for someone to become 18) go on a boat that was a part of the flotilla that sailed under the Harbour Bridge throughout the night, and then anchor up near the bridge come midnight to give an unspoilt view of Sydney’s world famous NYE spectacle.

The boat was a futuristic looking beast but with the shape of an old American style paddle steamer. Inside, the boat was modern, spacious and split over three levels. Due to a mad storm front that ripped through Darling Harbour just as we boarded, we secured a table on the lower deck and used this as our base of operations for the rest of the night.

We departed the harbour around 7pm and so began the festivities. On our deck, the lower deck, we had the pleasure of a live band that banged out a range of melodies from across the decades. Also on our deck were food stations as well as a bar, which was all inclusive; so there was only the human mind to limit one’s food and alcohol intake (which, over the course of the night, proved quite difficult for some to manage 😀).

The night went really quickly. Before we knew it the 9pm fireworks came and went, and then within the blink of an eye the captain was positioning the boat for the midnight show; and boy what a show it was. It is a good job we live in an age of audio/visual finesse because words alone wouldn’t do the fireworks justice. They are every bit as good as you see on the gogglebox.

Once the last of the pyrotechnics fizzled out the band struck up, people returned to their seats and the dancefloor became a mass of happy revellers soaking up the last of the evening’s entertainment as the boat made its way back to Darling Harbour. What fun!