Sydney - New Years Eve — Our Next Big Thing

28 December 2022 - 01 Jan 2023

We got to Sydney on Thursday, December 28th. We were staying at the Rendezvous Hotel, The Rocks, which was in a fantastic location, however our hotel room overlooked what we think was a museum that looked like a slum from the 1800’s. So we went to explore the area and see if we could find a good spot to see the fireworks, but not be too crowded.

This was the spot we found for the fireworks. We were actually on a balcony, which we think was private property, but the area just to the left in the picture was not, and that’s where we planned to sit.

The next day, after breakfast, we stopped at the Sydney Information Center to see if they had any better insights on where to go for the fireworks that we did. We talked to Geoff and Peter, who were actually impressed by our spot and did not have any better ideas.

Then we went out to get supplies. We bought a couple of camping chairs, wine, bubbly, drinks, cheese, bread, meat, etc.. you get the drift. We told Geoff and Peter we would leave the chairs for them, since we can’t take them to Brisbane. Oh! but before we went shopping, we were asking the front desk if there were rooms with balconies that may not be booked, since we has seen a maintenance guy working on one. We were trying to see if we could just use it from say 11:00 pm to 1:00 am NYE.. and the desk guy said. they did have one open. We could take a look on the 30th since folks had the room until then (he was not willing to let us just borrow it).

The view from our new room !!! The Harbor Bridge is on the left, the Opera House is just peaking out over the building on the right with the harbor in the middle.

Friday, we took a look at the new room and said Yes!!! Please!!! We had reservations for a harbor dinner cruise that night, so we took the day to see more of the area.

In fact, we were in such a good mood that we stopped by this little jewelry store, down the street from our hotel, and spent too much money. The owners were the cutest couple, they were selling everything at a discount because they wanted to retire at the end of 2023. We told them that was a wonderful choice. He showed us pictures of their family and some of the fancy adds they had run in the past. Julie may not have made her mother-in-law proud, but she did get the price dropped a little bit more on the earrings she bought. The sad thing is, since they are tax free, Julie can’t open them until she is out of the country. Sigh.

Friday night we went on a harbor dinner cruise. The food was delicious and the views from the boat were wonderful.

Brisbane based band Ball Park Music were warming up for the NYE concert in front of the Opera House, we listened to a couple of their songs as we passed.