Friday, January 1, 2010

AU2009 - Sydney New Year’s Eve 2009 Celebration

Its the time of the year again, where people from all around the world gather in Sydney, the New Year’s Eve capital of the world, to countdown for the new year. Regarded as one of the largest international event and one of the best fireworks display in the world, it was estimated that over 1.5 million people were on site to welcome the new year.

 

Sydney NYE2009 Banner

 

To help visitors to prepare for their trip, a whole host of information was provided and the one that we found most useful was the vantage point maps.

 

Key vantage points for the fireworks

 

As the Opera House area was jam-packed, we decided to head over to Campbells Cove, where we managed to get a good view of the Harbour Bridge …

 

Sydney Harbour Bridge

 

… and the Opera House.

 

Sydney Opera House

 

Here, it seems that the trend for the year was to wear a Harbour Bridge hat.

 

Inflatable Sydney Harbour Bridge hat

 

There were also several people who dressed up and danced to the tune of an Indian song?

 

Indian dancers?

 

Anyway, the only problem that we had upon arrival at the Cove was time, as it was about 7 hours before midnight.

 

5 minutes to 5pm, 7 more hours to go!!

 

Luckily, since it will be a long and boring wait, several pre-show entertainment were organised during the night. The first Pre-Show Entertainment began at about 5pm with spectacular aerial performances from vintage planes.

 

Aerial display

 

And for dinner, we had our picnic (unfortunately, without a picnic basket or mat) with our Nasi Goreng, Mee Goreng and Nasi Lemak.

 

Malaysian delicacies for our picnic

 

We also had some snacks and Easy Way milk teas as backups ...

 

The junk foods!!

 

… while enjoying the sunset.

 

Sunset over the Opera House

 

Being a child friendly international event, for those family who brought kids (whom need to sleep by 10pm), there was the 9pm Family Fireworks, …

 

 

 

… where stunning fireworks, choreographed to a soundtrack featuring music from much loved children’s movies and pop songs, were displayed.

 

The spooky moon during the night

 

There was also a quick preview 15-minutes before hand.

 

Colourful!!!

 

After that, a flotilla of vessels turned on their lights and paraded around the harbour, marking the start of the Harbour of Light Parade.

 

Harbour of Light Parade

 

At the strike of the hour (10pm and 11pm), as well as at 11.30pm and 11.45pm, …

 

Clock striking the hour

 

… in addition to the clock’s bell ringing and digital watches beeping, fireworks display were used as an indicator of those times.

 

Time telling fireworks

 

And finally for the moment, the countdown to 2010, is the Midnight Fireworks, where the wait ended with fireworks all over the harbour to signal the arrival of the new year.

 

 

 

 

The only disappointing thing was, they had a countdown for the Family Fireworks but not the Midnight Fireworks. Anyway, farewell 2009, and welcome 2010!!! Happy 2010, everyone!!!

 

 

P/S: You might want to check out the Video Gallery courtesy of City of Sydney.

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