Before I write anything, yes, the photo on the left is stolen from the internet. I could never take a photo this good, nor did we have such an amazing view of the bridge. Anyway! Sydney is obviously famous for it's NYE fireworks display so we couldn't come here and not watch it on the big night! There are many vantage points from which you can watch the fireworks, one of the best being Mrs Macquarie's Chair in the Royal Botanic Gardens. This was our view of the bridge from our picnic spot - a little obscured by trees but good nonetheless! 
NYE in Sydney is an all day thing and because everyone wants the best view, people are willing to queue from the early hours. Dave headed off to Mrs Macquarie's Chair at around 9am loaded down with all of our picnic things. He said that by the time he got there people had already been queuing for at least 3 hours beforehand - some had even arrived as early as 4am to ensure they bagged a good spot - crazy! I didn't join him until later; I left the house at 11:30am and didn't get to our picnic until 2:30pm. I'm bad with queues at the best of times so you can imagine how grumpy I was by the time I eventually reached Dave and all our goodies!
Round 1 of the picnic started when I arrived: various deli meats, roasted peppers, sweet potato salad, crusty bread, various cheeses, cherries and rockmelon plus a glass of vino. Delicious! Then the wait started for the fireworks. We entertained ourselves quite easily with card games, reading and walks every now and then. Dave and I even managed to find somewhere selling chocolate dipped marshmallows and strawberries (it's become a bit of an obsession of ours - we even made some last night).
Round 2 of the picnic happened at around 8pm. The kiddies fireworks went off at 9pm and they were very impressive; we were in for a treat at midnight! Every hour until then a big blast of fireworks would go off getting everyone revved up for the main event. After this we cracked open the vodka and the drinking games started...
Finally midnight came around and wow the fireworks and atmosphere were AMAZING. Apparently each year the display takes 15 months of planning and costs $15 million dollars. Expensive, yes, but very, very worth it. A once in a lifetime experience and very surreal to be there for real; it gave me goosebumps! Happy New Year (and Happy Birthday to me too)!
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