Days 116 to 119 Happy New Year from Sydney!

The main reason for us being in Sydney at this time of the year was to celebrate the New Year in style! We had been reliably told by many people that the best way of seeing the fireworks was to be on the water. On arrival in Sydney we had nothing booked, but the guys in the hotel were able to find a harbour cruise for NYE which sailed until 2am. This gave prime viewing of the amazing fireworks. There was food and drink on board and plenty of music and dancing with a live band & DJ. Somehow we had managed to get onto the top deck of the paddle boat & enjoyed the best of everything on board.

There was alot of excitement about the firework display and we didn't have long to wait to see how they would turn out. We boarded our boat at 6.30pm then sailed out to the harbour. There were two displays, one at 9pm for famailies & another at midnight. The latter lasted for 13 minutes. The sky was filled a mass of exploding shapes and colours, loud bangs everywhere. At the end, all of the people cheered and the boats sounded their horns. We could even hear the people cheer from the shore. We all agreed that this had been the best firework display we had ever experienced. We took many video clips & have managed to get one attached to the blog for you to see what we mean!(To view it just click the film strip below) What an unforgettable New Year's Eve celebration & one that we will remember forever.

On New Years Day we decided to take it relatively easy & enjoy a long lunch at the famous 'Doyles restautant' in Watson's bay. This exceptionally good fish & chip restaurant lived up to its reviews. The seafood (like most places in Australia) was fantastic & once again we loved having a couple of bottles of chardonnay to wash the food down!

The evening was spent at Capitol Theatre where we saw 'Billy Elliott the Musical.' It was a great night & the musical really is worth going to see in London or Sydney if you are here. We were amazed at the talent of the boys playing Billy & the humour.

Our final night in Sydney with Olive & Eugene we decided to make it special. We shared a bottle of champagne & strawberries before having dinner at Bennelong, the award winning restaurant at Sydney Opera House. The meal was delicious and combined with spectacular views & great wine we had one of those 'memory meals'!

This week has been unforgettable for us both & given the last 16 weeks travelling, that is a big statement to make. We have fallen in love with Sydney and all it has to offer. So now it's off to New Zealand & Christchurch........just hoping there are no issues with visas there!!!

Sarah & Michael :-)


TOP TIPS FOR SYDNEY

1. If you can spare $200 in your budget take the helicopter trip around Sydney, in our opinion, it was totally worth it.
2. Take a ferry to Watson's Bay or Manly - it is cheap & you get the best views of the opera house & bridge from the river.

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Videos from "Days 116 to 119 Happy New Year from Sydney!":

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