Yesterday morning we got up at 7am, well in fact Dan and I got up earlier because my phone wasn't sat to the right time! We had a drink and jumped on John as he didn't get up. Mick drove us back and we got back to the campsite before 9am. Jasper and Jerone had turned up the night before so we woke them up so they could come with us into the city. We got ready and the Belgium lads (they had 2 new friends with them Nicholas and Ben) were still getting ready so we gave them instructions on how to get to where we were going.
We got to North Ryde station, had to wait 10 minutes for a train to Chatswood which is on the main line, then another 10 minutes for a train to Wynard then another 10 minutes for a train round the city loop to St James. It was stupid they didn't have many trains running as everyone was obviously trying to get into the city early. We found the queue for Mrs Macquairies Point and joined it at 10.40am. It snaked round a massive field, up a hill and along the road. We saw oompa lumpas playing cricket and entertaining the crowd. We were doing mexican waves. We phoned Ian and Helen and they were about an hour ahead of us in the queue. The Belguim lads were an hour behind us. We took our yoga mat to sit on and we sitting in the queue playing backgammon but then it started to move really quickly so we couldn't sit down. We made friends with a Danish man, Michael, who was on his own so we invited him to join us. We got through the check point at 1.10pm. They wouldn't let anyone take in opened bottles or alcohol. We knew this so we were ok but others had to pour drinks away. Everyone was very mild mannered and just queued fairly until one guy sneaked into the queue with us at the end of the queue and we were really annoyed...needless to say he was french!
We found Ian and Helen and they were with friends they met in Cairns, Dean and Emma and Andy. They had a brilliant view of the bridge and opera house but the trees covered the sky. It was a steep hill and we sat there waiting for midnight. Dan had some beers and then some wine with Damelza. He found out they were refunding empty bottles ($5) and empty cans ($1). We were annoyed as we'd thrown out about 20 cans from our group! I went round to find any on the floor as Dan didn't want me to go bin diving. I saw people beat me to it and were rifling through the bins filling up bags. They would only refund 4 units at a time though so we had a few trips to get some money back.
I bumped into Julia the German girl from the tour last week. She was with another group of friends but we spoke for a little while. Dan was being rude and as usual getting his bum out. Everyone kept being moved on who were on the paths, steps and rocks. We found a brilliant view on the rocks but the security kept moving people on...until about 8pm and then they gave up. The harbour looked beautiful as it got dark and the boats were lit up. We had an excellent view of the water. A party in the space below us started so we had music all night which kept us entertained. Songs like YMCA were funny as random people would be doing the actions.
At 9pm the childrens fireworks went off and we quickly realised we'd sat in the completely wrong spot as we could see them behind the trees. We managed to find spots to see them and they were awesome. They were over so quickly. Everyone started moving about as although there was a great view of the house and bridge the sky was obsecured by the trees. We stayed put as we had been there long enough. At 5 minutes to midnight Andy (Ian's friend) disappeared off saying he couldn't be bothered anymore!!! Dan was asleep but as soon as the count down started he woke up. We wished everyone happy new year and watched the fireworks. I was disappointed we couldn't see everything but the bridge was spectacular. We could see it clearly and it lit up the water in the different colours. It's a shame the photos don't do it justice. It was really nice seeing the new year in surrounded by our new friends and it will be one we wont forget. We all said we probably wouldnt come again as it was such a long long day all for 12 minutes!
Everyone cleared out so Ian and I cleared up. I found 5 bottles through the night and various cans so I made money. I can now say I worked in Australia, lol!!! They shut at 12.30am so we left with the rest of the crowds. We were really lucky with the trains and jumped on one to Wynard wited 6 minutes and then got one to Chatwoods. The trains were packed but we were lucky we sat down all the way so Dan could sleep. We jumped off one train at Chatswood and straight onto the one we needed to North Ryde. We were exhausted by this point. We walked back to the campsite, sorted the tent out and collapsed.
The tent was a bit squashy with all the bags as well but the floor was comfortable. We were very hot so I woke up about 9ish and I opened up the flapped and put the main backpack outside. I fell back asleep until the rain woke me up so I had to close the flaps and put the bags back in. I still managed to sleep a bit more though. At 10.50am I woke up and the 3 of us celebrated English New Year together.
We had a shower to make us feel human and are now just relaxing. Dan has gone for a swim to cool off. It's overcast here today but yesterday was the same and Dan got red arms. I'm thankful that the weather forecast was wrong yesterday and we didn't get soaked.
Happy 2010!!!
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