Christmas and NYE

03 Jan 2007 07:40 - Australië

Hi there,

The last story I posted ended with my car receiving its 300,000km service. The next day I took a train into the city where I got my first haircut in over 4 months. I also visited the “Duyfken” replica in Darling Harbour. Duyfken was the first ship to map part of the Australian coast but the Dutch, in their infinite “wisdom” decided that Australia wasn’t worth exploring. After I’d had a nice Korean meal I took a train back to Seven Hills station where I had left my car.

When I got to my car I noticed that one of the windows had been broken and that everything inside was out of place, but nothing was actually missing. They even opened my eski! I guess someone tried to steal it (thank God for the immobiliser!) and that the rest of my stuff wasn’t worth stealing, not even my delicious peanut butter… Two days later the window was replaced.

On Christmas Eve Peter and Paula took me to North Head where we enjoyed the views and say the television crews preparing for the Sydney to Hobart. Later we had a nice picnic before running back to the car because it started to rain.

Christmas Day was spent at Jacque & Lindsey’s where we were joined by Joanne (Peter and Paula’s oldest daughter). We had a wonderful dinner and spent most of the evening enjoying each other’s company. On Boxing Day I got up early to prepare my lunch and drive to South Head to see the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Before the start of the race I saw three tall ships leading the yachts out of the harbour. The lead ship was the Duyfken. At 1pm the canon signalled the start of the race and nearly 80 yachts, accompanied by hundreds of spectators’ boats and nearly 20 helicopters sped out the harbour.

I spent the next few days relaxing at Peter and Paula’s and on Saturday they took me to Parramatta where we visited the oldest building in Australia. Afterwards we went to the park to see more historic buildings. Finally we went to the Parramatta River to see the beautifully decorated walkway along the river.

Sunday was the day I had been waiting for, New Years Eve in Sydney! I left early in the morning to beat the crowds…well, that was the plan at least… :S

I wanted to watch the show from Mrs. Macquaries Point but once I got there I noticed a huge que of people waiting to get in. Everyone was searched for glass and alcohol, even though you could buy alcohol (in glass bottles) on site. In the que I met Leon and Mieke (two Dutch backpackers I met at Schiphol airport earlier this year), Mieke’s brother Erik was also there. After about 2.5 hours of waiting we finally got in and secured a good place to watch the show. All we had to do was wait…for 8 hours… While we were waiting for the fireworks to begin we saw aeroplanes flying overhead and various boats sailing under the bridge. When the fireworks began at 9pm all the hours of waiting were quickly forgotten. What a show!!! And to think that this was only an appetizer for the main show at midnight…

The main show was absolutely breathtaking! The bridge was the centre point of the show and the rest of the (3 tonnes worth of) fireworks were set of from barges scattered throughout the harbour. After the fireworks I walked into the city to meet Tim and Suzan (Two Dutch friends of mine who are staying in Wollongong).

All and all a spectacular ending to a great year!

That’s all for now, I’ll be leaving Sydney and heading towards Melbourne later this week.

Greetz, Bart