(This is part of a trip report to NZ/AU traveling business class on Qantas for 125,000 AA miles and $131, returning on Hawaiian Air, with a stop in Honolulu.)
Sydney’s New Year’s Eve brings 1.5 million people downtown and we were fortunate to book the Sydney Intercontinental, which is right in the middle of the action. They close streets, there are masses of people, and we had to have a special ticket just to get into our hotel later that night! We spoke to some Americans staying farther away and they didn’t get back to their hotel until 4:00am! We used 50,000 points per night for a room that sold for $546, and here are some pictures…
View from our room…
We took a walk in the Royal Botanic Garden, a welcome respite before a very busy night!
There were only a few other people there, one advantage to strolling the garden on New Year’s Eve!
LOTS of boats in the harbor because that is the best place to view the fireworks!
This was a VIP fireworks viewing area (not us)!
Late that afternoon, we had high tea at the Cortile restaurant at the hotel, which is a restored Treasury Building from 1851.
And we are off to the opera! We made reservations to see “Le Boheme,” so we could see the inside of the opera house AND watch the fireworks on the balcony afterwards!
Sydney Opera House…
And inside…
They have fireworks during the intermission, around 9:00 pm!
The end of the opera, which was outstanding. They had English captions, so you could understand everything.
And finally, FIREWORKS! It was one of the best fireworks show I’ve ever been to. At one point, they had lights on the Harbor Bridge which turned it into a waterfall! We, along with all the other hordes of people, were enthralled!
Sorry for the quality of pictures, my camera is not made for fireworks, so here’s one that is not mine!
Walking back to the hotel, five minutes away…
Next is Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef!