New Year's Eve in Sydney

After spending all the Christmas days with my host family, I went to the airport at 4:30 am. Fortunately, James could take me there as he had to drop off his parents anyway. It was a strange feeling, knowing that I would never see these people I just spent Christmas with again.

But I couldn't dwell on that for long because I was very excited to finally see my friend Line from Germany again after 6 months in Sydney. Fortunately, the time on the plane passed quickly. Finally, Line and her friend Nicole also arrived in Sydney and it was so incredibly nice to see them again! Before that, I met Peter at the airport for the key handover of our Airbnb, so everything worked out well. We then took the train to our station Milsons Point, which took about 20 minutes. The location of our apartment was truly a dream; we were in the northern part of Sydney right next to the world-famous Harbour Bridge with a view of the water and the Opera House. It couldn't have been better for New Year's Eve. Since we arrived very early in the morning, we had plenty of time to do a big grocery shopping for the next 5 days. Then we cooked our lunch (burgers with vegetables) and took the train to the other side of the Harbour Bridge to see the city's landmarks. It was a strange feeling to be at these places for the last time 4 months ago, at the beginning of my Australia adventure! At the Opera House, we even met my closest friend from Melbourne, Charlotte, and had a drink together because it was really hot. Then we walked alone through the botanical gardens and explored the rest of the city. Since we got tired quite early in the evening, we went back to our apartment relatively early, had dinner, and took a little detour to the pool and sauna, which were integrated into our apartment building.

The next day, we visited Darling Harbour and took a boat tour there. On the boat, we met a very friendly family from England. It's always very interesting to meet so many people from all over the world and talk to them, especially because everyone here is so open-minded. Afterwards, we strolled through the shopping streets and explored the rest of the city center. In the evening, we met two Australians in a bar. When we arrived there, I was a bit shocked because it was the bar that belonged to the hostel where I spent my first nights in Australia... crazy! We then went to two other bars and were dropped off at home again around 2 o'clock. It's always so great to meet Australians and not just Germans!

And then it was New Year's Eve. After getting up, we got ready and cooked some things that we could take with us. In Sydney, on New Year's Eve, you either have to pay hundreds of dollars to secure a good spot for the fireworks or wait ten hours on an overcrowded meadow. Of course, we chose the second option, hehe. Armed with 2 cozy blankets and plenty of supplies, we set off. Since we were so lucky with the location of our apartment, we could simply cross the street and had the perfect view of the bridge and the Opera House from there; so the perfect spot for New Year's Eve. Waiting was not at all bad or exhausting, it was just fun. We took a nap among millions of people, talked a lot, and laughed even more. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the toilet through the crowds, which made the time pass even faster. I had never seen so many people at once, but it was really cool! We met many Germans and even 4 guys from Ahrensburg; unbelievable!! You really meet people from home all the time here, people you never meet at home. At 9:00 PM, the first fireworks for families with young children started. So some people had already left. The countdown was a truly magical moment, realizing that you were celebrating the beginning of a new year in Australia, in Sydney, with millions of people. The fireworks were truly incredible and even more spectacular than imagined. The wait was more than worth it, and I would recommend everyone to see it once in their life, it was truly incredible. After the fireworks, we had to fight our way out of the crowds and back to our apartment. Then we met up with the Australians again, but we didn't do anything special. We just sat in the park and talked.

The next day was beach day. We took the bus to the famous Bondi Beach and did the Coastal Walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. The beaches around Sydney are truly impressive and beautiful! We saw many great views, incredible beaches, a huge cemetery by the sea, and steep cliffs. When we were too lazy to take the steep stairs, we decided to walk over the rocks right by the water. It took us more than an hour, but it was very adventurous! Luckily, we didn't slip! During this walk, both Line and Nicole lost their flip flops :-D. When we reached our destination, we went out for a delicious meal and spent the last rays of sunshine of the day at the beach and even went swimming. After that, we went back to the apartment.

The next day was already our last day in Sydney. So we spent most of the day cleaning up and tidying the apartment. When we had some time left, we sunbathed on the sunny meadow next to our apartment and then cooked the rest of our food. In the evening, when we took a taxi to the airport, it started raining; so it was a perfect ending.

Sydney was truly incredible, and I hope to come back someday. But my adventure wasn't over yet because I flew with Line to Brisbane on the East Coast for 5 more days.