New Year's Eve in Sydney
Fireworks and celebrations by the Opera House on the harbour
How to get the best vantage points, such as Mrs Macquaries Chair, where you can bring your own alcohol, and where to get the best views of Australia's most famous bridge.
Along with Edinburgh and Times Square in New York, Sydney Harbour is probably the most famous place in the world to see in the New Year.
And it is not without good reason. For a start, it’s the first big city in the world to see the New Year in (sorry Auckland, but in the international scheme of things, Sydney’s always going to win that one). Secondly, it’s almost guaranteed to be nice and warm, so people can get utterly laggered without having to put on 17 coats and a really thick jumper.
But perhaps the main reason is the now legendary fireworks display around Sydney Harbour which, over the years, has become something of an international institution.
Make no mistake about it, this is not a case of your dad putting a rocket into a beer bottle then waving a sparkler at your pet dog. Over a million dollars is spent on the booms, bangs and pretty lights, a figure that is more than recouped from the tourist money poured into the city over the period.
Depending on whose figures you believe, half a million to a million people will crowd round the harbour for the festivities, which kick off much earlier in the day.
It is fairly traditional to make a day of it, and many of the favourite vantage points such as the Opera House and Mrs Macquarie’s Point are absolutely chockers by mid afternoon.
From 1pm, there will be something happening on the hour, every hour, starting with the firing of the cannons at Port Dennison. Then, to keep everyone entertained as they drink themselves into a coma, there will be things like skywriters, aerial flyovers and para-gliding.
It really kicks off at 9pm though, with the family fireworks display. This is basically a watered-down version of the big midnight effort, and is there so that kids can be shunted off to bed and allow adults to binge drink properly. It’s still pretty impressive though.
This will also be the first time that the three concentric hearts on the Harbour Bridge, which are there specially there for the fireworks display, will come to life.
The countdown will then continue until midnight, when millions of dollars will go up in smoke. As well as barges dotted all over the harbour, the fireworks will be going whizz-bang in all manner of pretty colours from 69 firing positions on the bridge.
It’s at this point, of course, that it’s obligatory to take 400 photos which won’t come out, and phone your folks at home, drunkenly slurring about how pretty things are.
The Opera House and Mrs Macquarie’s Point will be the most crowded areas, and are theoretically family orientated, but they’re also the spots where it will probably be most memorable. They are far more iconic than a random park, after all.
The least crowded spots will be the ones furthest away, especially the North Shore ones but given that the world and his dog will be trying to get a taxi at the same time, be either prepared for an all-nighter or a long walk/ pub crawl home.
If you’re wanting to see the fireworks, then there are a few things to bear in mind when picking your spot. First of all, decide what you’re after. If it’s to do it on the cheap, go to one of the spots that’s BYO, and take a picnic. Unfortunately these spots aren’t the ones with the best views (although, having said that, there’s not too much in it). Also bear in mind that the refreshment range at the smaller vantage points will pretty much consist of two pies and a sausage roll.
