happy new year!

Well, that was quite an evening. Sydney is quite a city. I left the hotel at about 3 o'clock, after napping a bit and grabbing some lunch. I was crossing Kings Cross St., and happened to ask a family going in the direction if they were on their way to the rail station. They were.

Say hello to the Heaths, my adopted Limey family. They were really great and allowed me to tag along with them all the way downtown, around Circular Quay, to the Opera House, and to hang around with them until the fireworks started.

The Heaths consist of Bob, Janice, and Adam. There are also 3 other daughters dispersed all over the world, but one only assume that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and that the daughters are as kind and compassionate and funny and outgoing as the rest of the family. I really probably would have been pretty bored and gone back to the hotel on New Years Eve had it not been for them. Bob, through a persistence only known to true Englishmen, also managed to get us cheap, unlimited travel on New Years Eve. Thanks guys! You're great!

While I was waiting with the Heaths on the Harbor, a nice girl named Amy Brownfield introduced herself to me. She is spending a year (well, 10 months or so) in Australia doing basically social work in a remote town called Albury (I hope I spelled that right). She and her friends that she works with were in Sydney for a few days, presumably to catch the fireworks and do some clubbing. Her friends that I remember are Bronwyn, Rickie, Nobbie, Shane, and Emma. I'm sure there are a few guys that I left out, but they'll never see this website anyway. Amy was great, and extremely interesting, and after the 9 o'clock fireworks, I went with her, Shane and Emma to the Rocks district of Sydney, located on the other side of the Quay from the Opera House. It was a bit of a walk, and easily the largest exhibition of public drunkenness I've ever seen, that night at the Little Inn with my family excluded. :)

We came back, after taking some of the dramatic pictures you can see here just in time for the 12:00 fireworks (of which pictures can also be seen at aforementioned link). Truth be known, we sort of busted in. Seeing as real estate is a bit limited on that side of the Quay, there was a complex system of passes that you needed to get that would allow you out to get a drink, say hi to someone, whatever. When we got back, they weren't accepting passes anymore. One thing led to another, and, well, you just don't mess with a big drunken mob of Australians on New Years Eve. This one guy with a perfectly bald, cue-ball head and a tattoo of Elvis that ran up his rather sizable bicep led the "charge" along with about 40 Asians to whom this was no different than getting on the subway at 5:00 back home. The volunteer security force gave up trying to look official and just started making sure no one got trampled. That was pretty sensible, if you ask me.

The midnight fireworks did not disappoint. Sydney really knows what it's doing when it comes to throwing a party, and the fireworks were easily the most amazing I have ever personally seen. There were four separate, mirrored exhibitions up and down the harbor, and the bridge itself became the centerpiece for the finale. Oh, did I mention the glowing lizard? This barge turned wannabe-Vegas-centerpiece with firework-launching-capability was amazing! The pictures I took just don't do it justice.

Post display, I said goodbye to Amy, et al. and went back to the hotel with the Heaths. Jet lag had just hit me and I was dying. I actually fell asleep on the bus back out towards the airport. It is a credit to the compassion and coolness of Adam Heath that he woke me up and dragged me off the bus at the correct stop. I really appreciate that, man. It would have been very easy to just say "Oh, he's not our responsibility," and walk off, but they didn't, and I will always be thankful for that.

As soon as I got back to the hotel, I trudged upstairs and was literally asleep as soon as I hit the pillow. I was awoken early this morning by my loving parents, who just, if I remember correctly, wanted to make sure I was alright.

Love you guys. Write me: bmcg3004@mail.usyd.edu.au or mannix2k@hotmail.com.

Muchlove.peace.b.