Happy New Year!

Many of you are probably wondering "What happens in Sydney during New Year?" Awesome, is the answer. Awesome happens.

There are many expensive parties you can attend, if you buy tickets far in advance. Having backpacker status, of course, restricts us to the cheap and last minute. One festival we almost hit, and which had tickets available last minute, was the Sunburnt Christmas at Bondi Beach. This is Christmas Vegas-style. Since we were away from our families and friends and had no tree, no presents, no holiday music, and no ugly sweaters, we figured we might as well party on Christmas Day to keep us from the holes of depression. Unfortunately, our plans were foiled by lingering drinks with friends on Christmas Eve. Oops.

So New Year's was to be our big night out. The plan, much to my dismay, kept getting pushed to the last minute until the night before - and when none of our friends had come up with any plans, I made the executive decision. We would pack a picnic and leave early, 10am as we heard this was appropriate to get a good spot, go to the Royal Botanic Gardens and watch the fireworks, followed by champagne back at the hostel and then dancing all night at whatever club had a short line and would let us in.

I woke up totally jazzed the morning of New Year's Eve and went for a jog to prepare my body for a night of intense drinking and dancing in high heels. The time was 8am. I took a beautiful jog down the Butler Stairs, around the marina in Wooloomooloo Bay, and into the Botanic Gardens to see how the line was shaping up for the celebration that night. I kept getting pushed around by these fences that seemed to pop up overnight all around the park, which usually has half a dozen entrances. By the time I reached the main entrance I was floored to discover thousands of people already waiting in line. Many had the haggard appearance of having spent the night in the park so they could secure the best possible bit of grass for the fireworks show. Completely disgruntled I ran back to the hostel. On my way back up Butler Stairs I remembered this tiny park at the end of Victoria Street that I had jogged through a few days ago and which had a beautiful view of the harbor and Opera House, and most of the Harbor Bridge.

Waiting to get into the park for fireworks

I reached the park and was pleased to discover no one waiting in line. After speaking to the helpful Security guy, he informed me people started lining up around 3pm. Well, things were looking up. We met up with our Canadian friends and hit Harry's Cafe de Wheels, a famous Australian pie shop. Have we mentioned before how much the Aussies love pie? Oddly enough (we thought), there are not many fruit pies, but rather, beef pie with traditional Australian red sauce, chicken and mushroom, chicken curry pie, and beef, cheese and bacon. Toppings include mashed potatoes, gravy, and mashed peas. It sounds weird, but my god it makes sense immediately when you taste it. There are pie shops all over Australia and your visit here is not complete without sampling a pie. However, Harry's is The Pie Shop, and people from Russell Crowe to Elton John to the cast of American Chopper have tasted their pies.

Our back alley in Sydney

Around 3:00pm we got in line for the small park at the end of Victoria Street. We were among the first twenty people, and happily began drinking and playing cards until the park opened. We took turns running out for dinner, and then napped for an hour or two before the show started. We had a pretty good view of the harbor and, despite being told by a few locals that the fireworks were "just fireworks" I was pumped. One of our friends had itchy legs while we all napped and sent us a text one hour before kickoff, letting us know he found an alley "with almost no people" and an amazing view of everything. We'd have to stand, but there was a great view and we should go meet him. After spending hours trying to secure this patch of grass, I was reluctant to leave, but we took a gamble and set out to meet him. We arrived in a small back alley, fully packed with drunk (but happy) people, tourists and locals alike, smoking, cavorting and laughing. It was actually the perfect way to celebrate New Year's. The fireworks were INSANE. Fire was coming off skyscrapers, across the harbor, off the Opera House, from barges in the harbor, and spilling off the length of the bridge itself. I have never seen fireworks like these in my life. Everyone in that alley was part of one memory, it was magical.

Excited to keep celebrating, we dressed up and popped champagne back at the Orginals. The nice thing about hostels is they always have deals with the clubs and you can usually get free entry somewhere. So we went all the way across the street and danced all night. It was the best New Year's ever.