Chapter 4: Sydney, New Year's Eve, and Family Time

Dear family, dear friends,

First of all, happy new year to all of you!

Before I get to the actual blog, I finally have to mention a beautiful Christmas tree that we saw in Sydney!

After the culinary delight mentioned in the last blog on Christmas Eve, we explored Sydney in the following days and found it to be beautiful!

On December 26th, we watched the start of a big sailing regatta at Watsons Bay and went swimming at the beach there.

In the following days, we finally visited the opera house and took countless photos of it with many Chinese tourists. The opera house is truly a highlight, especially with the Harbour Bridge in the background! The view from Mrs. Maquire Chair to the opera house is perfect and would give us the best possible view of the fireworks a few days later.

The Darling Harbour, located in the next bay, is also a really great district, which is still relatively new and growing. There are many small restaurants and bars along the promenade.

The walk over the Harbour Bridge is a must, especially because there is a historic amusement park on the other side, which would be a perfect location for any horror movie. From there, you have a good view of the Sydney skyline.

On December 30th, we visited the famous Bondi Beach, the most well-known beach in Australia, and went swimming in some really big waves. That was a relaxing day that we needed because we knew the next day (New Year's Eve) would be long and exhausting.

At 3:30 a.m., our alarm went off and the adventure "New Year's Eve in Sydney" began. There are many options to spend a lot of money on yacht charters, parties, or park entrance fees. Since we were interested in a free solution, we quickly came across the Mrs. Maquire Chair, which we read everywhere was the best spot, but you had to be there early. We had already visited the park before and noticed that there were many trees that would obstruct the view. So we had to get up early and fight for good spots! We started off with plenty of food and drinks in our bags. We arrived at 4:40 a.m. and stood in line, once again led by, who would have guessed it, Chinese people who had set up their tents outside the gates...🙈 Nonetheless, we had a good position👍

At 10 a.m., we were finally let in and Louis and Jonas ran ahead while I hobbled behind with several bags. Jonas and Louis managed to secure a spot right at the front in an area fenced off by barriers, which could only be accessed through checks with a wristband that was handed out to us. In summary, it couldn't have gone better. Full of joy about our perfect position, we realized: "Now we just have to wait for 14 more hours...🙈"

On this small lawn, only 500 people were allowed on, and we could go to a small mini-market on wheels at any time and buy food and drinks. At 9 p.m., there was a smaller fireworks display for the children, so that they could go to bed on time. With Australian punctuality, the fireworks started at 9:30 p.m., and it was really impressive! Then there were only 2.5 hours left until the new year. Those were the longest hours of the year😂

Finally, the countdown began, and among countless camera tripods, we stood tall and had (unlike our rather smaller friends from China) a good view of the fireworks! After 12 minutes full of "Aaah" and "Oooh" with a completely illuminated bridge, we looked at each other and realized that this fireworks display would probably never be topped for us for the rest of our lives. I never thought I would get goosebumps from fireworks😅

To sum it up, we waited for over five hours outside the gates, an additional 14 hours in the park, and still didn't regret it. It was truly worth it!

On New Year's Day, we slept in and in the afternoon, we went to a soccer game between the Sydney Warriors and Brisbane, where we saw the German football legends Nicolai Müller and Alex Meier playing for Sydney. Müller initially stood out with an assist, while later he reminded me of myself and shot the ball against the post from 2 meters with the goal empty. In the end, Sydney lost, and the game left us with the impression that, in terms of level, it resembled a promotion game to the third league in Germany.

On January 2nd, I temporarily said goodbye to Louis and Jonas and welcomed my parents. Together, we explored Sydney again for four days.

During these days, we visited the Sydney Eye Tower and Manly Beach and took the ferries.

Afterwards, we picked up our rental car and drove north. We crossed the Harbour Bridge and traveled 400km to Port Macquarie, a place that you might know from television because of the Koala Hospital. On the entire route, we only smelled smoke once and hardly saw any smoke. So far, I have mostly learned about the fires from the media, and they haven't affected me yet. Hopefully it stays that way, and maybe they will weaken again by the time I fly to Auckland, New Zealand with Jonas and Louis on January 20th.

In Port Macquarie, we explored the coast and visited the Koala Hospital on the second day. Fortunately, we did not see severely ill koalas there, but rather ones that were blind and would not survive in the wild. It was a nice trip, as it was not as crowded as the other places we've been to so far.

After that, we continued driving north and made a short stop in Emerald Beach, following the tip from Jonas and Louis. There, we saw very friendly kangaroos alongside a kilometer-long beach.

Then we headed to Byron Bay, where we made a two-night stop. It is a relatively small town known for its beach, shopping street, and lighthouse. At the lighthouse, we saw dolphins, manta rays, and kangaroos in the wild. They are difficult to recognize in the photos, but hopefully, the circle will make it easier 😅

Now we're sitting in the car and heading towards Noosa. More about that in the next blog!

Best regards to everyone back home!