New Year's Eve

So, after months of berating Casey for the quality and interest of his blog posts, I am discovering that it is not as easy as he makes it look. As Richie Benaud would say, I am here to tell you about our New Year's Eve. Sydney has cornered the market in NYE celebrations; as a result, the entire city centre was packed from about 11am. We tried to look around the Opera House at about midday, but couldn't get near it: people were already taking their positions for the fireworks, still with twelve hours to wait. Casey's Sydney savvy led to us getting out of the centre and finding a space at the Birchgrove Oval, just down the road from his house. It was ideal: a really nice atmosphere with people picnicking and generally celebrating, lots of space but an excellent view of the Harbour Bridge. 

There were fantastic fireworks at 9pm, to allow families to take their children home, then a series of increasingly tempting explosions on the hour and half hour, like a pyrotechnic Big Ben, just to get you into the mood for the main event at midnight. When the fireworks finally arrived, they were every bit as spectacular as had been advertised, centred around a strobing yin-yang symbol suspended from the centre of the bridge, an interesting choice given Australia's determination to move away from the empire and be a central player in Asia. 

It's difficult to imagine a better place to see in the New Year, and was certainly a world away from the horror of New Year's Eve in London. 

We are heading home first thing tomorrow morning, swapping the 29 degrees of Sydney for the promised -4 at Gatwick. I am half expecting our plane to be diverted to Heathrow, or somewhere where they are more prepared for snow and ice, like Rekyavik.

It has been a joy to be here, and to see Casey so happy and settled. It strikes me that Balmain is very similar to Greenwich: it has a great, villagey feel, full of cafes, restaurants and bars, just a short boat ride away from the centre of the city. Essentially Mark has travelled 12,000 miles to live in the same place. 

The only question that remains is, how can I resist the 2011 Sydney Test?