New Year’s Eve in Sydney

It’s finally here! One of the most anticipated days of the trip! Ringing in the New Year Sydney style. 

Josh and I were adamant about our spot. We were locked in and ready for the long haul. Actually, I’m not sure if Josh was more adamant about the spot, or about the fact that he got to have data on all day. 😉 We left our house just before 11 and made our was to the security checkpoint at Barangaroo. When we were about 3/4 of the way there I realized I forgot our lunch! I sent Josh along with the sheet in case I didn’t make it back on time and booked it back to the apartment. I grabbed the lunch and made my way back as fast as I could. There were already hundreds more people in line. I was looking for Josh and a security guard wouldn’t let me through. I told him my son was just ahead, but he wouldn’t let me go until he could see Josh waving at him. I’m glad they took their job seriously. The checkpoint didn’t open till noon, so we stood in the queue. It was so so hot and so so many people. After it opened, they moved us through security and into the reserve. We speed walked(and speed climbed a million stairs) to the spot we had picked out a few days before. The best sports were already filling up, but we got so lucky with a mom and daughter who found a spot on a bench and gave us their spot in the grass. It was exactly where we wanted! 

For the next few hours Josh and I just lounged reading, playing the switch, scrolling our phones. We took turns sitting in the shade. We had a blanket laid down and then also a sheet that was folded to about a quarter of its size so that we all could fit. The sun was beating down so Josh grabbed a corner of the sheet to put over his face. When he popped back out, 3 people had squeezed themselves into the tiny spot where that corner of the sheet had been 😂. We were happy to share space, that was just a funny way to get it. 

The hours from 2-4 were the worst. I could just feel my skin getting redder and redder. Luckily we did have some intermittent cloud cover that made things bearable. 

The rest of the crew arrived about 3:30. Blake was happy to man the blanket, and the rest of us went shade seeking. Halle told us about the fun VR escape room they had been to that morning and showed us pics of the beautiful Chinese garden that was full of lizards. Halle heaven. 

We went back to our blanket and played the Game of Life on my iPhone. We didn’t see Rusty for about 2 hours—he was off wandering. 

The venue was really cool—there were tons of food trucks, lawn games, drinking water stations and nice portable bathrooms that flushed! We ate dinner from the food trucks and munched on all the snacks we brought. 

Things were progressively getting more crowded as the day went on. We were getting squeezed into a tighter and tighter space. We had to make sure we took up as much room as possible, because as soon as you shifted even a little bit, someone scooped up the space. 

We played BS and hearts until the 9pm family fireworks. They were spectacular! All of them launched from the barges on the water so we were still mega excited to see the midnight fireworks off the bridge. After the fireworks there was a lighted boat parade in the harbor. It was really cute! 

About 10pm time really started to slow down. The minutes started dragging and everyone’s energy was getting low. Throughout the evening they had different performers—indigenous groups, independent artists, etc. And lots and lots of diggerydo…..

Then the brought out an excellent DJ and he had the crowd pumped up, excited and dancing and singing in no time. 

Finally the countdown arrived! 5,4,3,2,1 BOOM! The sky exploded with fireworks. It made me teary. I felt to lucky to get to experience this with the human beings I love most in the world. We were in awe the entire time. At one point they had fireworks raining down off the bridge like a waterfall. It was so cool. The was just a little bit of wind, and unfortunately it was blowing all the smoke in our direction. At times it was so thick that you couldn’t even see the bridge. 

The show ended way too soon. We packed up with stars in our eyes, declared all the effort WORTH IT and walked the 15 min back to our Airbnb (which is one of the main reasons we picked it) 

It’s a night we’ll never forget, and we got to ring in the new year a whole day before the USA. Here’s to a happy, healthy 2025 where we grow and learn and love! Bravo, Sydney, Bravo.