Did i have an awesome new year eve??
Here’s d story, haha.
Yes, I’m in SYDNEY with the famous iconic opera house and harbour bridge!!! How cool right?? haha, best of all…i have a chance to see some said the world’s best new year eve fireworks display here!!!
We managed to pull a few friends to go watch together. SK had seen it 2 times dy from Milson points, thus he suggested a switch of the vantage point to Mrs. Macquarie point which is said to be THE BEST vantage point with view of the opera house and harbour bridge from perfect distance.
The thing is Mrs.Macquarie point is the BEST and the WORST too, haha. Why?? Read on…
SK’s friend told him that one have to go queue up early morning to get entry and EARLIER to get the best/comfortable spot!!! Did you see what i just wrote?? Early morning!!! The fireworks is at midnight 12AM, yet you have to be there early morning!!!! KL also no need so early!!!
So in order to gain entry, we tried our best to get there as early as possible. Prepared our breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the day.
Actually there are many vantage points around the harbour to view the fireworks (which I only realized how many they are after new year eve, LOL), though out of all, there are 5 top spots among them are Mrs.Macquarie point and Milsons point. Some you watch right under the bridge so you get to see the close shot of fireworks, some further so you get more overall view.
The map below from http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nye/2010/VantagePoints/default.aspx show all the vantage points in red and all the fireworks locations. As you can see, I always thought the fireworks are mostly fire from the bridge, but apparently it is not (at least not 2010 NYE), there are shot from several locations including on boats along the harbour and from top of the buildings which to me is AWESOME!!!
Anyway, yup we got up, made our way all the way to Royal botanic garden where Mrs. Macquarie point is located inside. We got there by 10-11am and WERE SHOCKED!!! Totally shocked!!! WHy??
See the pictureS below……
This was the queue in front of the GATE entry (not the real gate but the setup gate to check bags, make sure no bring in alcohol, and control the traffic). Already it’s a LONG LONG queue…
And people kept coming in still…
Still can’t see the end of the queue!!! Surprisingly there were some entertainment too but it almost ended when we got there.
Where’s the end of the queue???
Oh……my ……god!!!
Right at the very end of this field is the end of the queue!!! Can you see how many loop there were to maximize the human traffic?? And it’s about to rain!!! Well, it was just UNBELIEVABLE!!! 10ish am, and there’s already such a long queue and we were starting to wonder should we line up too?? there’s a limit capacity for entry, what if we didn’t make it when it’s our turn?? Still in the end, we bet our luck.
And so we moved in slow pace, could even guessed that there were many tourists in the queue too and people doing all sorts of things while queuing, e.g eating breakfast, drinking, playing cards…etc.
Moving slowly…well, by the time we got to the entry gate…it’s 2-3hrs later!!!
Oh dear god, luckily we GOT in!!! BUT still a fair bit of way to the vantage point!!! Kheng siew was smiling, wondered why?? haha, perhaps laughing at all the hassle to get in!!!
Well, but to be honest, i was also surprised by how good or should say ready the council were. What i meant was all the temporary toilets!!! Amazing!!! There’s even people renting chairs, haha. All the stalls were there if you need FOOD and BEER/SPIRITS. All in all, pretty good setup!!
But again, another SHOCKER, the park was already FULL with people!!! Everyone securing their piece of land!!!! Everyone trying to find a good spot!!! Jesus christ, most of the SUPERB SPOTS need tickets and tickets sold out/pre-booked!!!! %#$&^$$@#*&(*(* , just shocker!!!
Finally got a bit of glimpse of Sydney opera house and the harbour bridge, as reported, it’s quite a good spot!!! BUT AGAIN, all these points were guarded by security guards to prevent people from staying long at the points!!! meaning no one can secure that spot!!! ^$#$%%^^%^*&(
Plus once i’m there i only realized HOW MANY TREES there are in the park!!!!! Damn it, all obscuring the view!!!
And finally found a not too bad spot for ourselves, settled down….ar…..relax bit, then lunch, LOL. Now what time is it again?? it’s like 2-3pm!!! HOURS AWAY from midnight 12AM, what are we gona do?? Shoot here and there, play cards…..then got bored, walked around….
Everywhere is people!!!! every flat piece of grass is now filled out with HUMANS!!!
Don’t believe?? See for yourself!!
Food and drinks.
Masuk toilet pun kena queue!!!
Don’t she look sexy!!!
Mahu tangkap gambar pun susah =.=!!!
The icons with gloomy weather.
Another vantage point.
See??? Unbelievable, look at all the shit people bring!!! chairs (some hired there), reading materials, picnic stuffs..etc.
Forget the spots next to the sea/river!!! ALL TAKEN!!! luckily the council also setup barricades to prevent people from getting too near the water.
Mrs.Macquarie’s chair!!!
Can see these warships on the other side of the park.
Dinner time…it only get darks by 8-9PM. Saw the HUGE CARDS those people playing, it's hilarious (bottom right pic).
Part of the pre-show entertainment. THis kind of thing not very attractive, but became quite attractive as we were too bored, lol. When there's a bit of sthg, everyone stand up to see!!!
Then we all syiok sendiri!!! +.+!!! Oh my god, everytime when i looked at the photos, i can’t help laughing!!!
Then the batmans started their evening shifts…some got their poo!!!
At least one of the nicer shot of the icons that day, haha.
THe only GOOD SHOT of firework (fireworks shot from a boat) that night!!!! Part of the pre-show entertainment and 9PM family fireworks which is not bad and thoughtful of the council to entertain the crowd.
The harbour of lights parade which was quite nice though a bit far.
Well, well……this was HOW HARD to shoot photos here!!! First of all, you have to cross zig-zag, excuse me, excuse me, sorry, sorry to get to the best shooting spot because of all the humans and their stuffs!!!! then you are standing unstably trying to shoot among the many heads and hands and bodies (westerners are tall), worse of all, if you don’t have a stabilize lens camera!!! shoot apa apa no matter how steady your hand all came back blur =.=!!! Got tripod also no use, the tripod stand is not high enough!!!! Also most of the time no place to expand your tripod!!! Flash also no use, subject too far!!!
Shoot so manyyyyyyyyyy to get this picture!!! sigh!!!
Then, as it get nearer to midnight, NOBODY CARE THE RULES dy……, plus it’s DARK, banyak susah to navigate in the park, human sardines!!! People not happy you cross here and there, security guards prevent u from getting near the good spots…etc.
At one point near midnight i wandered alone and was SO CLOSE to one of the best shooting spot, i was shooting “illegally” there ignoring the guards, alas, still couldn’t get the best photo, sigh. Then, i was lucky enough that someone give me a bit of space to sit right at the very front near the water, chatted with him for quite a while, then I thought I’m so near, ok lar even though near midnight.
Who knows, like 20 mins before the NYE fireworks, EVERYONE ignored the rules and rush to the front!!!! Oops…., all i could see was just a huge crowd in front of me dy!!! All the time i was cursing, if only i remained shooting at the best spot i mentioned above!!! So in the end, yes i saw some fireworks, mostly from the boat in front of me, and partial from the bridge (as you can see from the photos below, being obscured by a tree!!!!) and all the heads, the hands, the long bodies!!! Well….at least i’m luckier than my mates because i got to see more than them (they didn’t see much).
Just imagine what i’m supposed to see above with the blurry images were as below (from the Australian website). One of the best spot to view the fireworks is from the boats!!! But expensive, unless you got a BIG group to share the price because most of the time u need to hire the whole boat pre-book a year earlier. Plus, i realized that should watch the firework display from far to better appreciate all the fireworks released from the boats + bridge!!! The helicopter view was AMAZING!!! For those who miss the good view of fireworks like me and would like to see more, go to http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nye/2010/Gallery/Photos.asp for photo gallery and http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nye/2010/Gallery/Video.asp for video of the whole 10 mins!!!
Plus there were too much smoke when view from short distances!!!
Well, the end of the yin yang theme, LOL.
Walked back and catching the bus was what we wanted to do, SO DAMN TIRED ~1AM dy. My mates all kinda REGRET!!! LOL. ANd i agreed that next time i will not go Mrs.Macqurie point to watch Sydney NYE, LOL unless u buy ticket or camp there overnight to be among the first to get in!!!!
Well at least we all agreed that it was QUITE AN EXPERIENCE!!! LOL
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