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What excitement... New Years eve in Sydney...

Its hot - balmy hot and we're dressed to kill. Amazingly, the only one's in full evening dress - the rest of the city preferring to dress in smart casuals.

Tonight we cruise from Darling Harbour out to Jackson Harbours' entrance and back, pausing to watch the 9pm and midnight firework display. Our group consists of Isobel and myself, Alison Brown, her father and step-mother, cousin Tara and my work colleague Vee Baker who's been staying with us for week or so.

We board late afternoon and are treated to finger buffets and as much as we can drink from the bar. The latter aided by our befriending the Elvis impersonating barman, Leo.

New Years is special anywhere in the World, but seems to have an extra special aura in Sydney - they love their fireworks these Sydneysiders, and go to extraordinary lengths to make each show bigger and better.  This years theme is 'outback Australia' - the centre piece being a firework representation of Ayres Rock on the harbour bridge.

And sharing New Years eve with great friends made this one to remember - a far cry from freezing ones nuts off in Trafalgar square with a bunch of strangers.

A countdown lights up the pillars of the bridge - excitement reaches fever pitch and the boat leans as everyone heads for one side to get the best view...

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

And it all goes off - the bridge lights up with a golden cascade, a sequence of huge starbursts turns night into day and all the horns and hooters on the boats sound off in unison.

Its 2002 - Happy New Year.

Returning from the cruise around 1am, we shed our glad rags and continue to party at the apartment for a while - we're joined by Tom, later to be nicknamed Tom Plum (but thats another story...) who's over from the UK on holiday but has no intention of returning... Tom hands us tickets to 'Gas' - an all night club which Isobel and I head for after donating our bed to Alisons' family who've been stranded due to the unwillingness of cabs to pick people up after the big night out.

We enter Gas at around 3am, and its still full and still in full swing. Heavy house music is playing in the main arena, everyone is on a high, and perhaps on something else too...

We find Phil and Jamsie - and Fiona and Evan, Jamsies' friends from New Zealand. We dance, and dance and celebrate being in a hot club in a hot country.

Suddenly a big bloke appears - its Brett - another Londoner over on holiday who I'd met several years earlier at an England-Wales rugby match. I'd no idea he would be in Sydney but we'd met in a bizzare (and frankly dodgy) toilet scene a few days earlier... As I sauntered out of the toilets in the now legendary Pontoons club, this big bloke had turned from the urinal, looked me up and down and said "Excuse me, but do I know you from somewhere?"

Brett, wherever you are, enjoy - but don't go frightening people in the lavatories like that again - you hear?

We left the club at 8am... daylight. Smoke from the bushfires leaving a haze over the streets.

I don't think I ever slept so well as on New Years Day.

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