Why Would I Want To Forget All My Acquaintances?

21 hours into 2012 and I'm still a bit tired after a unique and special New Year's Eve. But first some background info...

I had bought myself a bottle of Cougar whiskey for NYE, but upon exploring the prime spot for seeing the fireworks on NYE it was clear that I may have been wiser to save my money as bringing your own alcohol was not allowed. However, not to be thwarted by such a development, I devised a cunning little scheme. I spent a dollar on some of those ice pack things for cool bags and replaced the weird gel contained within the vessels with whiskey. I would then place them in a cool bag with my food/cola et voilà, whiskey and cokes on me!

Hell yeah!

So with my contraband safely disguised amongst sealed containers (Pepsi), sandwiches, crisps and Oreos, I took the train to the CBD and walked to the Domain at 10:30AM to be greeted by this...

So many people!

I called Wiebke and Friddi, but she was already well into the queue, so I joined onto the end. Matteo joined me in the queue and then Christelle found us a short while later (with some Oporto) and as we made our way around the theme park style queue we caught up with our recent events (as I hadn't seen Matteo for over a month), ate chicken and drank a lot of Solo and orange juice as we weren't allowed opened bottles.

Good thing I didn't try to bring in party poppers as well! I'd be in serious trouble otherwise!

Almost there...

It would appear my ruse of ice packs filled with whiskey wasn't really necessary as security was... well... lapse. The guy looked in my bag, not really looking, more like a glance and then my rucksack which was filled by my camping rug. I could have easily just brought the whole bottle of Cougar in my camping rug and saved the trouble of such a great smuggling idea. Christelle too had a good idea, by filling a few of those squeezy yogurt things with vodka, and she didn't even have to open her bag, the guy just asked if she had any plastic bottles (she said yes) then the guy just asked if they were sealed. Good job guys!

It would become apparent that not only did we easily avoid loss of alcohol, but the spot Zoe and Michael had secured was, quite frankly, bloody brilliant. It would transpire that whilst looking for Wiebke and Friddi in the queue, Zoe and Michael actually just walked straight through the gate without queuing or being stopped, lucky sods! Wiebke and Friddi were already there and after 3 hours of queuing we joined them...

And sat down here! Right behind the media section.

Like I said, bloody brilliant. So now was the difficult task of sitting down and passing the time until the fireworks kicked in.

Yummy Whiskey

Yummy Vodka

It was also Weibke's last day in Sydney

The sun was relentless, as my red face would suggest, so Michael had his own cunning scheme of making a makeshift shelter with some rope, a sheet and umbrellas.

Success!

After a couple of games of Uno, a couple of beers, some food, whiskey, time seemed to be flying by (much like the numerous helicopters and light aircraft) and conditions remained perfect.

Hell yeah! Stunt plane!

The media crews were around, but I didn't recognise any of the reporters.

The sun started to set behind the CBD as we were treated to some sky writing by a religious nut job...

Am I going to... um... where is Hravon? And where is your question mark?! There's a special place in Hell for sky writers with poor grammar!

Apparently it is an annual thing that some church pays for, fair enough, but I'd rather he write something cool like a movie quote or 'help, my plane is on fire'. He did carry on writing stuff about Jesus, but Matteo and I wanted a beer/toilet break before the 9PM family fireworks.

I guess he meant 'Stone Cold 3:16' but didn't have time to write it.

Alas, the queues for the bars were far more ridiculous than earlier so I would have to save my money and stick to my contraband. On the subject of 'cost', there were some very crafty costs weasled into the 'free' event. For example, the queue for the water fountain/tap was longer than the one for the bar, however if you bought a souvenir metal water bottle (for $15) you could use a 'special' tap for free, if you didn't have the souvenir metal water bottle you could use the special tap also, but for $2. A can of Carlton was $7 and I didn't bother looking at food prices after seeing an ice cream was $4.

9 o'clock came around and we were treated to a taste of what was to come as the 'family fireworks' began.

Naturally, people tried to get a good view and some feathers were ruffled as people who had not secured their spot earlier tried to push forward. But the fireworks were great and it was just a prelude to the main event!

The Moon and stars kept the sky occupied as we waited for 2011 to pass into 2012, the media were in attendance and every hour a small peppering of fireworks took flight and left small clouds to drift over the harbour. The theme of the display was 'time to dream' so I can only assume the clouds were there to represent the thoughts and dreams of mankind, or something.

The water ways were awash with the neon lights of the decorated party boats as they paraded along the harbour, carrying those who could afford the ticket price.

And then the hour dawned upon us, the countdown started on the bridge from the number 88, the crowd showed their anticipation through cheers and whistles as the clock ticked down, all the way down to ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two....

...one...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

20 minutes of bangs, flames and spectacle

The stars outshone by a huge display across the harbour

We stood in awe of it all

Until the finale took our breath away and blinded the horizon. Good show.

And that was that. 2012 was greeted by a blazing collection of sparks and flame and now was the time to walk to Wiebke's flat, but not before a quick phone call home.

But please spare a thought for the cleaners.

We did manage to get a free bus for the majority of the trip home as the train station was full of people and just getting a ticket would have involved more queues. From the bus we could comfortably view the populous revelling in the streets, which were really quite quiet, just the odd shout as the rest walked sedately to whichever path would lead to where they wanted to go.

For the sake of two stops on the train? Not worth it.

Christelle and Matteo had already left our merry band and so it was I and Ze Germans enjoying conversation and some wines previously purchased at the Hunter Valley. A great way to end the evening/start the morning.

But as the sun warmed the air for the first time this year it was time for us to head to our beds, or in the case of Weibke, head to New Zealand before going back to Germany in a few weeks.

Bleary eyed we walked to Central Station from Broadway

And hopped on the train to Hurstville.

The buses weren't running for another 3 hours or so, so I would have to get a taxi back to Sylvania. Fortunatly me and another guy were waiting for a cab, which pulled up, the driver asked us both where we were going and luckily we were both headed in the same direction, so I only had to pay for the ride from where the other guy got out to Sylvania. Then it was time to crash out (after wishing a happy new year via Facebook)

What a great 24 hours that was. Have a great 2012 everybody! (And see you in Hanover, Weibke!)

Play us off Jimi!