A Magical New Year's Eve that I'll Always Remember!

Even now as I reflect back on my first New Year's Eve here in Sydney, I know it could not have been more perfect! I was so fortunate to have so many dear friends, a beautiful sunny day with calm winds on the bay and a truly spectacular fireworks celebration like I've never seen before!

We departed from Rose Bay at 6 p.m. and immediately headed towards the area right in front of Taronga Zoo where we had a very clear view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and in fact the whole bay! And it was a parking lot of other boats who were all positioning themselves for a spot on the harbour.

As we are in Australia, almost immediately we opened up the bubbles and started to check out the boat - being a 34' Seawind Woorabinda Sailing Catamaran - we were allowed to climb up on top and in front and all around.



For about a week or so prior I'd been religiously checking the weather forecast hoping for a beautiful weather day and I was so thrilled with the bright sun, clear blue skies and especially the calm wind on the bay on New Year's Eve.



We were tremendously lucky to have Captain Joe at the helm as he found us the perfect spot! And he's a great BBQ-er! Thanks to Captain Pat, who took his boat out 60 kilometres the day before, we had the most scrumptious salmon on the BBQ - it was beautiful!



What I didn't learn until recently is that in addition to the midnight fireworks, Sydney also has a 9 p.m. fireworks show for families with children so they can be put to sleep while the adults continue partying on! Here's the warmup fireworks that are a prelude to the midnight show:



After the first fireworks, the Harbour of Light Parade began with about 50 vessels circling around the Sydney Harbour.



My friend Venecia gave me flashing color-technic bunny ears to wear on my birthday that everyone could see - even if they couldn't see me in the dark - which made me look a little disembodied :)



And as Michelled was FlipVideo-ing me in my bunny ears, she coincidentally recorded the funniest moment of the evening! Since I was standing on the stairs to the main seating area, Sandy mistakenly took a "shortcut" through an opening on the side of the boat and made a not-so graceful landing in the bin.

In this FlipVideo you'll hear the "swoosh" of Sandy falling into the bin and then the catchphrase of the evening "You're in the bin" from Dori who happened to be standing nearby and told a bewildered Sandy very matter-of-factly that she's just landed in the bin. Thank goodness she was not injured (there were lots of empty wine bottles in the bin by this time of the evening so this was a big worry) and after we made sure she was ok we helped her out - still holding her wine glass and all.



Then just before the midnight fireworks, we had birthday cake. I'd like to thank all my friends again for the gift of their presence on what is the best New Year's Eve and happiest birthday ever!



Each year it seems there's a theme to the New Year's Eve fireworks and this year it was "Make Your Mark" with the aim of having us reflect on the decade that has just finished and how we can make our mark by contributing to a better future. On the bridge we saw an "X" in lights in the middle of the bridge as in "X marks the spot". There was also a "hand" in lights to symbolise how a hand is a unique identifier for "making your mark".

As you watch these FlipVideos, you'll see that the fireworks are not just on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, they are all along the harbour! From where our boat was we were right in the middle of fireworks behind us, next to us, above the city, on the bridge and even beyond the bridge. It was literally like we had a front row, center point of view of the most spectacular fireworks I've ever seen!

And take a listen to the music that was played over the radio - it was perfectly coordinated. They played "What a Wonderful Life" by Louis Armstrong who when he sang "I see trees of green, red roses too" you saw green and red fireworks and then (yes you guessed it) when he sang "The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky" we saw a rainbow of colors in the fireworks.