New Year's Eve 2008

Published on Jan. 1, 2009 in Australia

Last year we had a very special New Year's -- on one of the private piers next to the Harbour Bridge (arguably one of the largest displays of fireworks in the world). We had great food, good company, and jaw dropping views. Our friend, Anita, wsa not in the country this year, so we had to find an alternative.

Our first plan was to try and go into one of the parks on the North side, thinking that somehow the view would be better. I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to get into the city until pretty late, and all the parks would likely be filled up. Yan-Shih and I pondered for a little while, and both came up with an idea: the train. Last year we noticed that the train still crossed the bridge while the fireworks were going off. We looked up the schedule, checked for delays, and at 11:03, caught the train. We were actually scheduled to arrive at 11:55, which we thought we would just hang out on the platform, but guess what: the train driver had other ideas. The train very slowly left the CBD, and at 12:00, slowly started crossing the bridge. It is hard to describe what the view is like, but it was nothing short of spectacular. While last year we had a holistic view of the fireworks, this year we were right in the midst. The residue from the mortars was landing all around the train.

At one point we peaked between the cabins (the train was moving very, very slowly). We could see the fireworks in every direction.

We jumped off the train, caught the last few minutes from near Milson's Point, and were the first to dip into one of the local watering holes. Two beers later we were standing in line for the train, but the line at Milson's Point was just too slow (they weren't letting people in). After discussing our options, we decided to huff it up to North Sydney, where we promptly got on the train. Not only were we on the train, we were the only people on the train!

I need to preface something: I like trains. I don't think it is just that I don't like driving, nor traffic, but that moving people interests me. One trait a public transportation user must have, especially in a city not know for public transport, is patience. And last night, we had to have a lot of it.

The train ride from North Sydney to Central took nearly an hour; it usually takes about 15 minutes during normal hours. We started to reach Auburn and the announcer came on the intercom and said: "there's been an assault at the next station, so we need to wait here for a while." Twenty minutes later of sitting in a train with drunk people, some covered in puke (not their own), the train started moving. Once it reached Auburn the train doors started to close, then open, then close, then open. It turns out a group of people on our train were having a fight -- who knows about what. We had to wait 30 minutes for security to take care of them, and finally we were on our way. One odd thing about the station was an abundance of glass, not the bottle type, but the shatter type, almost like somebody broke the windows in the train. I have no idea why anybody would break the windows of a train, but I guess I only had two beers, so likely a lot of things that made sense to others didn't to me.

At 4:00am I called my mom, wished her a happy New Year, and hit the sack. Welcome 2009!

Tagged as: fireworks | harbour bridge | new years | sneaky

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