The Road Not Taken

Ok, I had better let you know about my time over here for Christmas and New Year.

Christmas day I was woken for pressie opening over at Leanne and Pauls house. After the ripping and gasping at gifts we got ready to head down to Sydney for Xmas lunch. We stopped at more family on the way but made it down just in time for lunch.

“Prepare yourself” I was told when we got there…….35 people for lunch in a smallish house, it was tight but fun and riotous….minor food fights between the two tables ensued and after lunch more pressie opening was follwed with intense wrapping paper fights.

All good fun, but I was still sick so felt a bit crap most of the day, the best time being in the van where I could sit with my eyes shut for a while.

Boxing day was spent having fun by the lake.

Now, New Years eve…

Kathy drove me to Sydney and we went to Bondi Beach (pictures to follow). Amazing beach and surf here, lots of people, more arrived by the time we left at around 2pm and I can only imagine what it was like for midnight.

We then drove into the city where they were busy closing roads for later. We parked at the Rocks area near the harbour bridge and opera house. We went down to Circular Quay where Kathy decided that with the car it was hassle for her to stay. She had arranged with friends to see the fireworks from a penthouse in Kings Cross. Rob, Kathys friends son in law was working on the penthouse where the guy who owned it did not like the place and it is being gutted and re-designed. Anyway…

Kathy left and I went round to the Opera house and around. Very busy, alcohol checks and bag checks all over which slowed the pace a bit. I called Marcia (Kathys friend) to let her know I would meet them for the fireworks at 9pm (Sydney has 9pm fireworks for familes and then the midnight ones). I headed to “The Cross” where you are met by strip joints, ladies of the evening, touts and general hubbub.

I called to say I was there and Marcia said they were on their way. 15 mins later I called again…disaster….one of their crew had fallen and hurt his ankle so they were delayed. I waited another 45 mins by the fountain until she arrived. We sat with her family for a coffee and then shot off to the building, up to the top floor where the others were camped on the balcony…..the place was a shell, just the walls and that was it….however…

The view was spectacular. You could see all of the city and the harbor, bridge, opera house , the lot. After tucking into my 3 litre box of wine and nibbles the sun was going down. We had some fun with binos looking at other buildings and their goings on…Woosie told us he saw a girl changing in her bedroom but told us this after the fact…..!

After the sun set the city view was incredible. It cannot be described. the lights of the city and the boats on the harbor were amazing. At 9pm we had the fireworks which were great. They were not staying for midnight with the kids so we had to leave the building. My plan ( yeah right I had a plan) was to head back to the Quay and mad crowd. On the way I felt tired and drunk and it was only 10pm. They had shut Circular Quay station due to the crowds so I decided I had already seen the best view of the night and 2 more hours of drinking would put me in the Harbor itself so I headed home…

Jeez, trains north were few, I had to wait 40 mins for mine and then I realized it was a 2 hour journey!!!!! So I had midnight on the train with locals and random drunks. One guy in particular wanted to shake everyones hand and kiss all the women. I got to Morriset station at 1.20am and Kathy picked me up as I had text’d Briget with my arrival time.

Now some folks are surprised I did not stay for midnight as I am sure are 90 percent of you reading this, yet as you know I do things differently than most folks so there…………

Anyway I hope you get a taste of the time I have had. Oh yes I left my camera with Kathy in the event I lost it so no pics from the penthouse, sorry!

Welcome 2005, I hope you treat me well this year…

Tags: Australia

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 2nd, 2005 at 5:04 am and is filed under Australia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.