Thirteen years ago were the Sydney Olympics - one of the greatest shows on earth and most definitely one of the best firework displays ever seen. No-one does fireworks quite like Sydney - I think it's something about the harbour location, fireworks over water and the fact that the Harbour Bridge was pretty much designed to be a showcase launch for fireworks!
So the Labor Day long weekend was the centrepiece of the 10 day long International Fleet Review (IFR) in celebration of the anniversary of the First Fleet sailing into the harbour. War ships and tall ships from different countries around the globe were due to make their entrance into Sydney Harbour on the Thursday, prior to the fleet being reviewed on the Friday (with Prince Harry in town for the occasion, meaning lots of screaming girlies everywhere!) and the big celebrations taking place over the long weekend.
I always thought the Brits were bad at getting enthused by events - the London Olympics had little in the way of public enthusiasm prior to the start of the games and people only seemed to realise the enormity of the once in a lifetime experience once it had got going. Suddenly everything Olympic was in demand! In Britain that's usually because we have little faith that we will put on a good show, so it needs to be proven before we'll believe it. Over here, I was surprised by the lack of interest from locals in the IFR - this is likely to be the only occasion this many active war ships from so many different countries are gathered in the greatest harbour on the planet in anyone's lifetime! Despite the seeming apathy from locals, the 2 open days on the war ships quickly sold out (that'll be all the tourists who do realise what a special occasion this is!), so my friend and I had to satisfy ourselves with booking tickets to view the tall ships.
Before that, however, was Spectacular Saturday. This was the main day of the whole occasion with aircraft displays, helicopter displays, the Aussie equivalent of the Red Arrows (but nowhere near as good!) and finishing up with the biggest light, projection and firework display since the Sydney Olympics in 2000. I had a prior engagement out of the city in Woy Woy on the Hawkesbury River. A friend was having a bit of a housewarming get together, so I headed over there for the start of it at 12 noon, so I could get back for the rest of the IFR celebrations. As always, it's lovely to catch up with people you don't get to see too often and I was also lucky enough to get a ride back to the city with a friend who was driving (a bit quicker than the 1.5hr train journey - forget all the controversy over high speed rail... just getting normal speed rail would be a massive improvement!).
I was dropped off at Crows Nest and walked round the corner to find the bus I needed pulling up! Perfect timing! Having got underway, I checked 131500.com.au - the website in Sydney for all your public transport needs. It gave me details of the bus connection I needed to get the the end of Cremorne Point, which was where my friend had already bagged a great view for the fireworks. Now normally this website is faultless and I spend my life cursing the fact that Canberra has nothing as useful providing details of its public transport. However, on this occasion I waited for the bus connection, only to be told by the very rude driver (along with a host of other customers) that the road to Cremorne Point was closed and the bus was only going to the next stop then turning around. So, it ended up being another half an hour before I made it to the end of the road and amazingly spotted my friend immediately sat on her picnic rug at the edge of the cliff looking out over the Opera House and Harbour Bridge!
We had a lovely late afternoon picnic whilst watching the flight displays... not quite on a par with the Red Arrows, but you can't have everything! There was a big group of people next to us with cameras and tripods set up who'd apparently got there at 10am to make sure they got the right spot! They were very friendly and there was plenty of friendly banter to while away the time. As the sun started to set, more people arrived and started trying to jostle for position... I'm not sure why - fireworks go off up in the sky and we had a lovely clear area with no trees, so everyone was going to see, wherever they were. The thing which really gets everyone's backs up, is the fact that people just try to push their way in. Numerous groups of people around us were all saying the same thing... if the person had asked if they could get in front to take a photo of the view (which seemed to be what most wanted) or if their kids could come through and sit at the front because they're little, the answer would have been "yes". But as soon as someone tries to muscle their way through, complaining loudly about "these people hogging the best spots", then all goodwill goes out of the window and the response they're going to get is they should have arrived earlier. What has happened to peoples' manners? Even worse, what kind of example are they setting to their kids? So if you're one of those people who think the world should revolve around you and you have some god-given right to the best spot or to be served first despite being the last in line, think again... those of us who still have manners are fighting back!!
Eventually 7.40pm arrived and the show commenced. I don't think anyone (us included) had really appreciated that it was going to be a light, projection and firework show to a story and that the story would only be audible if you were in the vicinity of Circular Quay! So the 1st 20 mins were somewhat baffling as we could see some distant projections onto the Opera House sails and the Harbour Bridge pylons, but didn't have a clue what it was all about. There were sporadic bursts of fireworks, taking place on naval ships and firework barges along the Harbour (and it was the row of simultaneous fireworks that was spectacular), but to us it just felt like long gaps in between. However, wherever you were watching from, you couldn't complain at the last 10mins of the 30 minute display which was a firework extravaganza! When it was all over, we headed across to the ferry to find that no services were running, so had to do the long trudge back up the hill to Military Road to find a bus. We were in luck that one pulled up just as we arrived at the stop and we managed to beat the crowds!
Despite the fireworks being the big 'sell' of the weekend, I actually enjoyed going round the tall ships on the Monday just as much. There were a range of boats, some of which were absolutely amazing and very few of which you have control of the sails from the deck! Not sure I'd like to sail any of those and have to go climbing up the masts whenever the sails needed adjusting!! Endeavour was probably my favourite, but also enjoyed the Lord Nelson from the UK as well as Europa and the James Craig. After a morning going round all the boats inside the compound (you couldn't get back in once you left), we headed to Margaretaville for lunch. This is a lovely spot to watch the world go by on Darling Harbour, whilst relaxing on a comfy sofa outdoors. On this occasion it was particularly amusing as the Royal Marines were busy getting changed 'behind' one of the small marquees... actually in full site of everyone! After our extended lunch break, we went to look round a couple of the ships outside the compound and then eventually sat down to watch some of the military bands. The NZ one was good, but the Australian one was even better with an officer who could sing like Frank Sinatra and was a real showman... he definitely missed his calling by going into the forces!!
It was a very long but hugely enjoyable day and as I headed off to choir I was pleased to have experienced something that probably won't happen here again in my lifetime.
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