New Year's Eve, Sydney

After a much needed rest in our hotel, we caught a train to downtown and walked to Darling Harbor, where our New Year's Eve boat would pick us up. I saw a skywriter for the first time, and though his writing was really good, it didn't always make sense ("dance 08 Jen"?).

East side of the harbor, toward downtown. The overpass is a giant pedestrian bridge that crosses the harbor. (The monorail is above that.)

We drooled as all manner of gorgeous party boats docked, picked up passengers, and disembarked. (One was almost entirely glass.) And then ours showed up. We joked with some of the other passengers that we were stuck with a tug. Hee hee. It was just fine, though. :-] Mmm...seafood buffet.

Passing skyscrapers on the water.

We approach the bridge. This year's theme was "The Time of Our Lives." I found this to be a sure sign I was meant to be in Sydney thas year, with my obsession of time and all. (Yes, the little red bits of "sand" in the hourglass moved.)

As we passed under the bridge, the opera house came into view. It was gorgeous--all lit up for the Sydney governor's NYE bash.

They projected images onto the bridge's pillars all night. Some, like this one, were so random as to be hilarious. During the 9:00 pm and midnight countdowns, they projected the countdown instead, which could be seen all down the harbor.

Probably my favorite and best image from the entire trip.

Downtown Sydney. Near the climax of the fireworks, they even shot off fireworks from the tops of some of the buildings.

The north side of the bay, including Luna Park with its creepy face entrance.

Let the countdown begin! Along with the moving sand, the ring around the hourglass also kept track of the time.

Sorry for the blur, but most of the pictures of the light parade boats were blurry since the parade didn't start until full dark. The majority of the boats had things like clock hands, hourglasses, dates, etc. The tall ships had lights everywhere. It was spectacular.

A sailboat in front of the bridge. (Look, it's 11:35.)

Showtime! Several sets of identical fireworks were shot off all the way down the harbor so that everyone near the water could see them, no matter how far inland they were.

And of course, the bridge had its own fireworks as well. Happy New Year!

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