Sydney New Year's Eve!

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Beware, it will be a long story ;)
They said Sydney’s New Year Eve is one of the best new year celebration?
Yesss, for me it is. 

Back to the time when we were still in Aceh, I told Ayah – who really want to visit Oz in new year, I dont like going on a vacation in peak season because it’s hard to find cheap flights and hotels (gamau rugi:p) even we looked for it months before arrival. Believe me, the struggle was real.
Then, I thought the cities will be crowded and full of people but in fact it was empty lol. You didn’t even feel traffic jam in Brisbane and Sydney. I loveee it.

Sooo…

We arrived in Sydney on December 31st , one day before new year. We spent whole day to visit most iconic places in Sydney because we afraid on the next day some places will be closed due to the new year’s eve preparation. That was a pretty good decision I can say.
After visited some of the iconic places including Sydney Opera House during the day, me and Adek wanted to see it during the night so we were going back to Circular Quay Area. The places quite busier than the day though, making me a bit panic about tomorrow (?) :’D
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I was panic because we haven't decided the spot to watch the fireworks yet.
Then we immediately sit in front of a mini market at the ferry station, I was looking back to my notes about new year and opened some bookmarks of Indonesia blogger articles about their new year eve experience. One of the blogger said that they always stay away from Circular Quay and The Rocks Area to avoid crowds coz they have little kids. After I told Ayah about it, Ayah said “Yaudah gapapa kita disana aja, kapan lagi. Kakak sama adek juga udah besar kan”. Well said Ayah, roger! wkwk

Those two areas are very close to the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House that’s why it becomes one of tourist most favorite spots and it’s free hehe. Ohya, actually you can choose whether you want to watch the fireworks in free spots or paid zone that requires ticket. We chose the free one of course haha

After some consideration, we're sure that The Rocks provide best view to see the fireworks. So we started to count how much the cost from Ashfield Station to nearest station in The Rocks through this website www.transport.nsw.com Because ya, it is very recommended to just use public transport when you plan to watch the fireworks until late of night. So, we top up the Opal Card at the top up machine (if you don’t have the card yet you can buy it in minimarket for $25.00).
After everything settled, we were going back to the hotel!
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The Day
We started the day by visiting Bondi Beach, short stopped at the Hyde Park, Australian Museum, St. Mary’s Cathedral. On the way, we saw some new year’s eve volunteer distributing some handy maps and brochure about tonight schedule. We got it too!

Then before heading to The Rocks we did quick survey to Winyard Station (Closest station to Circular Quay). Find the platform that stopped in Ashfield and after that we heading to The Rocks. We did it to avoid miss-directions after the fireworks bcs you knooo it will be super c-r-o-w-d-e-d.
With the help of google maps and the new year’s map, we arrived at The Rocks. But, after considering the view from the spot and The Rocks also not family friendly (alcohol allowed) we decided to find another spots.

And accidentally, I found a gate to another spot (yeay!) we knew it from the running text showed “Campbell’s Dove Closing Soon”. So, we ruuuun to secure a place to sit (lesehan sih wkwk). This is the perfect place for us because we could see Sydney Harbour Bridge and sydney opera house at the same time, plus it is alcohol free and family friendly. 😍
We arrived at the spot around 5 pm, could you imagine we have to wait until midnight? But, not as bad as it sounds started from 5 pm to 12 am they entertained us with many performances. They also gave us the schedule! Take a look.

The schedule!

Not proper lol
At 9 pm, there was family fireworks for family that bring kids so they dont need to wait until midnight. It lasted about 17 minutes. It is a simple one but enough for kids though. Anddd what I want to tell you is that the security was very tight(?). When I and Mama went to toilet which is outside the spot, the security gave us like a small card as our identity, so if we lost it we couldn’t come into the spot anymore. :’)

Behind the gate I saw so manyyy people begging the security to come inside, but sadly they couldn’t because the gate is already closed. Lesson learned is we need to be on time (or even few hours faster) to get to the spots or ended up watching the fireworks behind the buildings, which is not good at all. 

We didn’t bring unused newspaper, blanket or whatever (you should prepare it too). But, lucky us we meet a very kind Indian family that shared their seat with us. I and the uncle talked and laughed all night loooong :D
Here some highlights of the night!




Definitely, the best fireworks I've ever seen. :'D

 The sad thing about the conversation is, I didn’t ask for his business card or number even took a picture together. 😔 The same thing happened to my other new friend (forgot her name). She is from Peru but she was studying in Sydney. 

We literally talked a lot until few minutes before count down when people stood up and looked for a better view. That’s the last time I saw them, without saying goodbye. Thank you so much Uncle!! T.T
Still disappointed with my self until now :(

Actually there are sooo many things I would like to write about this new year’s eve. We had so much fun and never regret this decision, Alhamdulillah. 

 xoxo,



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