Day 4: New Years Eve

Sydney is the first major city to bring in the new year. Needless to say, it could be considered a lively place to be on December 31st. New Year's Eve 2011 was certainly no exception.

Early in the day we visited the Sydney Aquarium, which had an abundance of exotic marine wildlife. We walked under several glass tunnels with sharks, sting rays, and massive sea turtles swimming over our heads. It was not so much unlike experiencing Finding Nemo in real life (we saw Dori, Gill, and whatever the surfer sea turtle's name was all in one tank). After a early dismissal from out class duties, we began to assemble plans for the night.

Originally, we had decided to leave our dormitory around 3pm in order to procure a great viewing area at the Botanical Gardens overlooking the Opera House and on the harbor. However, being a large group of college students without particularly developed planning abilities, we did not leave until closer to 6. The Gardens had been closed for several hours upon our arrival. Heading to plan b, we headed back down to Circular Quay again and found a great spot amount the hundreds of thousands, soon to become millions, of people congregating there. We ended up with a great spot overlooking the bridge.

The Harbor Bridge from our spot

Oddly enough, we encountered a couple from Sydney which had been involved in construction for several years in the area. Hopefully my new friend, Alfred, will become a resource in my thesis during my research process!

Alfred giving me the thumbs up in the new year