I spent New Year's Eve watching the fireworks in Sydney Harbour. It was amazing. I took a few photos and some film and they really don't do the displays justice. There were two displays, one at 9pm and one at midnight. The 9pm display used some graphics on the bridge (a question mark and a coat hanger) the fireworks were from the barges in the harbour and from Darling Harbour. It lasted about 10 minutes. The midnight display was even more spectacular. There were the fireworks on the barges, fireworks from the tops of the skyscrapers in the City centre, and the trademark fireworks on the bridge. It lasted about 15 minutes. They were hugely entertaining and were supported by cheers and applause from the crowd. I was sitting at McMahons point to the North-West of the bridge. I had a view of the bridge square on to my left, I could see the fireworks from the barge the other side of the bridge, the Opera House under the bridge, the skyscrapers infront of me, a fireworks barge infront, Darling Harbour beyond that, and fireworks further down to my right. I got there at midday and sat there for 12 hours. Luckily the weather held, there were predictions of thunderstorms beforehand. I ended up joining a picnic. The number of people in the area was amazing. By 8pm it was packed. Blues Point next to McMahons Point was crazy. When you tried to walk down there you were just moved in a river of people, mainly consisting of paraletic 15-19 year olds. The police closed of the area. Where I was sitting everyone stayed seated and I had plenty of space with a couple of Australians I had joined for the evening (I managed to join in on their New Year's Eve picnic). The patriotism of the young drunk Australians showed with them chanting 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' towards the end of the fireworks. I don't think you would get that in the UK outside of sporting events.
I was on Bondi Beach for Christmas Day. It was a peculiar way to spend Christmas. I have never seen so many Santa hats in one place. In the evening I went to a friend of mine for a BBQ to complete the stereotyped Australian Christmas. During the week I sat in the sun watching the cricket on the big screens spread around the city and going to the beach. I fought it out in the sales to buy some shorts. Sydneysiders don't appear to take pre-Christmas shopping particularly seriously, whereas they attack the sales. Over the festive period news broadcasts have always referred to the Christmas road death toll. Whenever there was a road death anywhere in the country they reported it and then showed a scorecard of how many deaths there had been in each state. I think it got to about 25 in total. They also go into morbid detail, one report stating that the police couldn't identify the body because it had been so badly burnt. I am not sure why they concentrate on road deaths at this time of year more than any other. They didn't display statistics to compare these two weeks of the year with others. Apparently it is a Christmas tradition.
On New Year's Day I went to see the Barmy Army play the Fanatics (Australian cricket fans equivalent) in a charity match at the Coogee Oval. It was a great atmosphere. There were about 500 fans and 90 percent of those were English. The banter and chanting was very funny. They had a news reporter at the event and the fans kept putting him off. Unfortunately hopes of at least one English win this summer proved short lived. The Fanatics trounced the Barmy Army. I think this was partly to do with the Fanatics taking the cricket suspiciously seriously. Their players looked athletic, whereas the Barmy Army players looked like they were pregnant.
I managed to get into the second day of the Ashes test in Sydney today. It was superb. I went with a couple of guys from the Kiwi trip. We were sitting with the Barmy Army for the last hour and had a great time with the chanting. I have managed to get tickets for the third and fourth days.
No comments:
Post a Comment