Vacation Moment #2

New Year's Eve at the Sydney Opera House



Yep. We ushered in 2007 drinking champagne on the balcony of the Opera House, with unobstructed views of the fireworks off the Harbour Bridge and the skyscrapers of downtown Sydney. You read that correctly - fireworks off the skyscrapers - it was freaking awesome!

After 3 days in Newcastle to unwind after our week in Cairns (vacationing is tough work... one needs to regularly unwind!) we took the train into Sydney for the finale of our trip and 2006. We were staying in Paramatta, a suburb of Sydney - as close as we could get to Sydney when we finally decided on what we were doing for the big night.

We arrived in Paramatta around 1pm on Sunday, found a cafe for lunch (I was nursing a large wine hangover from the previous night...40 Year-Old Virgin and Dodgeball are DAMN funny with that much wine...someone forgot to tell me that the drinking is supposed to happen on the 31st, not the 30th...) and then went to the hotel and crashed... although not for long - we had to get up at 4 to start getting ready for our evening. As we were leaving the hotel at 5 to take the train into Sydney, we wondered what Paris was up to at that moment. It undoubtedly did NOT involve public transit, but that's okay. http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,20005382_2,00.html

When we got to Circular Quay, it was a madhouse. So many people!! I've only done NYE in San Francisco once before, and Union Square didn't seem nearly as packed as Sydney Harbour. It was crazy - but surprisingly well organized. There was only one exit out of the train station and there was only one entrance into the part of the harbour where the opera house is. As we made our way (in dangerously, and, in some cases, painfully, high heels) through the throngs of people camped out on blankets, newspapers, eating snags from the vendors and standing in line for port-a-loos, we became increasingly grateful that we held in our hands tickets to a seat with our name on it, real food, real champagne, and, most importantly, real toilets. When we walked into the Opera House and stood inline to get our surprisingly reasonably priced buffet dinner, the Redhead and I decided that we can't ever go back. It's the high life from her on out.

The Gala NYE concert started at 8pm and it was 'Opera at the Movies', opera pieces used in various films. Some I recognized, some I didn't. Despite that, the concert was stupendous. I was in 7th heaven. Everyone was dressed nicely, the orchestra sounded soooo good in the opera theater (which makes sense, given the acoustics in that place...) and it was just so nice. The concert had an intermission at 9 so we could watch the family fireworks (Sydney does 2 sets, one at 9 and one at 12). After those fireworks we had another 90 minutes of opera. Even though we were in the cheap seats (we basically had a view of the conductor and the back of the symphony and the performers) it was great. At the end there were standing ovations, multiple encores, and streamers, confetti, and balloons filled the place. Even though it was only 11pm, it was a great celebration.

After the concert we headed to the party to watch the fireworks. However, our tickets weren't enough to get us into the party (see addendum below) so we bought some champagne and nibblys and hung out in the Opera House. It was sort of like a grad night feel - we could go anywhere and just hang out. For the actual fireworks we made our way out to the balcony, carrying our champagne. I can't tell you how oddly satisfying it is to carry a full bottle of champagne around when you are all dressed up. Quite fun!

The fireworks were amazing! Off the bridge, off the skyscrapers, there were SOOO many of them. We toasted our good fortune, good friends, and a great 2007. We hung out for a while afterwards and hen made our way home on the train. It was the best NYE I've had at an event. Usually the build-up is so big and the actual event doesn't have a chance of living up to the expectations. That's probably why the last 4 or 5 years NYE have been super low-key, with friends just hanging out.

Addendum: When we checked the next day, our tickets were actually for that party. We missed out on the free drinks and nibblies and the band. BUT - we are going to get reimbursed for the party part of the ticket, so all is not lost. And we had such an amazing time anyway, its no big deal. But it would have been nice to have been in the party where we were meant to be!

I'll add pictures when they are shared... I didn't take my camera that night.