Day 22 - NYE Sydney 2013!

Despite a slightly restless night we were up on the road again before 8am, keen to get to Gilly's in Manly to change before heading to Sydney to find a vantage point for the famous NYE fireworks.
We made it with no dramas to Manly, got settled in and then went straight down to the wharf to catch the ferry over to Sydney harbour.
The ferry took about 30 minutes and about 10 mins before we docked you get a fantastic view, first of the Opera House and then the bridge as you came around the point and into the harbour. It is certainly a fabulous site to behold, the clean white sails of the Opera house gracefully reaching into the sky and then the majestic steel bridge stretching across the river. It was apparent that every one else on the ferry was also a tourist and so wanted to stand up and take lots of photos too.
We disembarked at Circular Quay and made out way to Mrs McQuaries chair, our chosen spot view the fireworks. There were about 7 million other people who had also made their way to the harbour with the same idea. We persevered, past the entrance to the Opera House and Circular Quay East which, as we passed it, was declared 'full'.
On our way to Mrs McQuaries Chair there were helpful info points and a chat with a lovely lady told us Mrs Mc's Chair was busy, still open but with a 2hrs queue. We chatted some more and decided to try the Botanical Gardens. This spot had a capacity of 4,500 people and as we went through the makeshift turnstiles we were about the 4000th visitor. It's a reasonably big patch of grass, complete with 50 or so port-a-loos and several food vendors. The were a lot of people already there. Some had been there for a long time, arriving much earlier then us at 2pm. However we found a spot. As the sun was, at this point, blazing down on us we opted for a shaded area under a big tree. And there we waited. With 7hrs to kill until the 9pm prelude we sat. The time went quickly, a couple of tinnies, some homemade ham wraps, updating blogs, couple of games and lots and lots of people watching. Including quite a long of game of 'is it a man or woman'. In the end, despite a lot go misleading features, the Adam's apple and crotch adjusting gave it away.
Because of the volume of people, there was a heavy police and security presence, including the continuous drone of helicopters. I imagine at last one of these was media too. We had a good spot but not quite great for viewing the fireworks. After 2-3 false starts, to keep us interested, we made our way to a gap between the pens. Deposits the security telling anyone who would listen that they can't stand in the walkways, there were a lot of people standing in the walkways. The 9pm fireworks kicked off to a lot of 'ooing and aahing'. Mostly they were set off behind the points on boats but there was a small burst from the bridge.
We were hoping all the families would go after the 9pm fireworks, freeing up some space, but no such luck! However Holly was very sneaky and spotted a teeny tiny gap just inside a pen so with a little coaxing and some very begrudging Dutch tourists, we settled down on our square of grass to wait out the next 2.5hrs. We played a bit of hangman and observed a total prat (British) just being a knob, a drunk one at that, so we determinately avoided any eye contact.
At long last it was time to see in the new year. And suddenly our long wait was rewarded. The fireworks were amazing. It was a fantastic atmosphere and Sydney, for a few minutes, was lit up for as far as the eye could see. The bridge was the main point of release for the big show, with some boats and the Opera House being used too. There was some music but we couldn't make it out from our spot, and what a spot Holly had found! (See picture).
After the fireworks there was a 'herding' exercise with all the people being sent in the same direction before splitting to be able to find our ferry. We were lucky and managed to get the first ferry out of the harbour. Unfortunately we had to wait for the police escort to lead the procession of boats out of the harbour. We waited over 30mins for all the boats that featured in the light show to be lead to safety.
At last we were on our way back with a boat load of other weary festival goers. A few were a little worse for wear and couldn't handle the choppy waters of Sydney harbour, so visited the side of the ferry at speed! We were also chaperoned by a flock of seagulls gliding next to the ferry, finding fish in the glow of our ferry lights.
We finally got in at about 2.30am, thanks to Gilly and Glenn for their hospitality.