As mentioned in my last blog post I had a story for another day, another blog and that time to share is now! There are some things as a traveller you will do that are completely out of the crazy, but it’s actually those very things that give way for the bestest stories to be told. I now have this crazy story to tell of how I stayed awake for 24 hours straight to see the New Year’s Eve fireworks in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I mean talk of a stunning backdrop, this one was without a doubt a pinch me moment and one for the bucket list. All these years in the UK, since I was a child, I have watched Sydney’s fireworks on the news as Australia is amongst the first few countries that bring in the new year.

My alarm was set to wake me up for 4am on the 31st of December 2023 and I arrived outside the grounds of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney for 6:20am. Let’s just do a little rewind so that you get an insight of what it was like to prep for this camp out from the night before. There were a lot of dos & don’ts issued for this event, one being that you were allowed to bring in a picnic but it had to meet the criteria. All bottled drinks had to have unbroken seals to ensure no liquids were tampered with and all food items could not be in any glass containers. Now when I first moved to Sydney, I made a trip to IKEA especially since my luggage allowance from the UK was only a pathetic 23kg allowance of which 3kg came from just the suitcase itself! Since moving here I bought only all glass containers because who else absolutely hates cleaning out plastic containers? If you enjoy your Indian food like I do, you also must have at some point faced the absolute chore of a task of washing out curry residue from a plastic container. Anyways, I heavily digress. I had to wrap every food item in aluminium foil because I left packing the picnic late until 9pm and if you’ve read my Sydney update blog you know everything closes very early. Another random thing to mention is my picnic consisted of 3 baguettes of garlic bread. I really didn’t need that much garlic bread even if it is the epitome of perfection. I also took a backpack with what I thought were essentials, but baring in mind I have never done such a camp out like this, I eventually learnt I was no where near prepared. This was confirmed when I saw some of the stuff the others had on them. Some of my essentials were of use though, such as a picnic blanket, umbrella, poncho, travel pillow, portable charger and my iPad with plenty of movies and tv shows downloaded! Remember I arrived at 6:20am and NYE’s fireworks take place at midnight! Several hours of life had to be passed. If you think I got there ridiculously early in the morning please do also know that hundreds of people had camped out the entire night before, so from the 30th! One of the event’s security guard even mentioned to us that apparently the first person in line started queuing up at 10am on the 30th of December. I don’t look so crazy now do I? The fear ran through many people as it was announced that once the grounds reached full capacity the gates would be closed and everyone who didn’t make it would have to leave. My boyfriend and I queued in one spot until the gates opened at 11am which brought us to already almost 5 hours of waiting.

The event was ran very smoothly as 11 struck we all started moving and when I turned around to see how many people were behind me I was taken back. I’m talking thousands of people stood on this open field all weaving in perfect rows. I was squinting trying to take an attempt at even seeing where the queue ended but at this point all those thousands of people were looking like a massive blur. Nothing but teeny tiny ant looking humans. Regardless of the wait, I was having the time of my life watching Netflix, being nosey and people watching and downing several yogurt pouches. I was so impressed with my own craziness of what I was taking part in I just had to shamelessly FaceTime all my friends from back in the UK so that they could also confirm my insanity. Once we entered into the grounds we had to go through a security check point and have all of our bags searched. You were allowed to bring a water bottle but you had to prove that it was empty and that you would only use the water fountains provided on site. Even things such as aerosols were banned and I watched a woman reluctantly throw her spray deodorants and SPFs away! After this checkpoint it was like it was a no man’s land kind of zone, you pretty much could claim any spot to set up camp in the different viewpoints. All the queuing, all the civilisation diminished and everyone was making a run for it. I’m talking the kind of running you do when you’re late for the train and you are on the platform and the beeping of the closing doors are alerting you that it’s pretty much too late now! Or it was like the kind of running you see at the end of a cheesy romance movie where one lover is running through the airport somehow, very unrealistically surpassing all sorts of security!

It’s not like we had any specific spot in mind but it became a monkey see, monkey do situation where we also started to run up until we got to a fork in the road. One path bending to the left and the other to the right whichever you picked, you were then no longer allowed back out of as this was made clear by the event staff. I let my boyfriend choose so that if it was the wrong choice to make it wouldn’t have been because of me… hehe very cheeky of me! He chose left and he says it’s because he’s left-handed (how ridiculous right?) and it led us to the best, exclusive viewpoint which felt like a blessing sent from the universe. I’m not usually someone that can say I have luck in my favour but somehow this time both of our lucks struck out! We found ourselves in an area where only roughly 1300 people were given entrance to and had we turned down the other path we would have ended up in an area where approximately 10,000 people could be. We were given wrist bands that although were made from a bit of paper, made us feel like absolute royalty wearing them. We only had to walk for a few seconds before we saw the unclaimed edge of a curb with a patch of grass on it. At this point, we would have been grateful for any piece of land. However, no matter how pathetic our little spot looked it was more about the view from it of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with the Opera House perfectly appearing in front of the bridge. It was a little past 11am and NOW BEGAN THE 13 HOUR WAIT! At moments like this I find myself thinking I am so doing this for the plot. The plot being my life and this is some main character energy that I’m feeling in my own storyline. You wouldn’t watch a movie where the main character sits on the couch and watches TV all day, so when it comes to you… you sometimes just have to go out there and do crazy and exciting things for the plot!

The next 13 hours were filled with various activities. There were a few food stalls on site so we had access to hot food. After several hours had passed and I worked my way through my picnic items, I could no longer resist the aroma of hot food that engulfed my surroundings. I thought I could just buy some hot chips as that would probably be the cheapest thing and I did. I really wish I didn’t because can someone please explain to me why after I tapped my mobile phone on the payment terminal I saw a $17 notification pop up from my banking app!!! $17 for a tray of chips. This city may fix my broken heart but one day it’s going to break the bank for me. We took turns to go on little walks and keep our blood circulation flowing. This opened the window of opportunity to go and see what everyone else was doing and how they were holding up. We were all squished together but the squishing of people ran all along the bay. I loved witnessing so many personality types of people on my walks. Some were fast asleep with a blanket and they clearly didn’t want to be bothered until midnight, some groups of people were playing card and board games and many others were dancing with each other to their music. I live for moments where I witness strangers coming together for a moment in time where there is a short, but sweet lived friendship.

As incredible as the hours were feeling, there was also periods of harsh reality which in turn opens the door for gratefulness. Laying on the ground outside for long hours isn’t easy. It starts to make you appreciate the little forgotten gifts of life where you can be fortunate to wake up in a bed and also return to one, day in and day out. Remembering that although we are doing this out of our choice and for a fun time there are many people out there who do not have this gift or a choice. If you’ve made it this far in the read, why don’t you also take a moment to count a blessing that you are grateful for today.

 Now, this may be a bit of a let down ending for you to read but it has to be this way. The roar of the countdown ultimately blessed everyone’s patient and eager ears! The clock had struck 12 and the night sky was illuminated from the gunpowder reactions… indeed fireworks! I don’t think I could ever paint with words what my eyes witnessed for the next 12 minutes. I was overwhelmed with emotion. I actually felt like I was experiencing my past life flash before my eyes. All the good, the bad and the ugly. All of it. All that it took for all the previous versions of me to carry me up to this very point in time. I came to Australia looking for that fresh start in life, I was looking for a clean slate and finally realised that all my wishes will always be my very own command. If you want to see what my eyes saw you will have to keep your eye on my social media pages. Cue the shameless plug. TikTok: @thisjennytravels & Instagram: @thisjennytravels. One other incredibly grateful experience I had was not only having the city of Sydney and my boyfriend with me to bring in the new year, but I also had my closest friends present. You know who you are, the absolute pieces of my soul! My friends all jumped onto a group FaceTime call and they brought in the new year with me even though they live 11 hours behind in time! A beautiful start with the ones who matter.

The train journey home was shocking. We were all packed like sardines in a can on the platform waiting for the train and then also closely packed to one other on the actual train. As soon as I got home I could not think of a more heavenly place than my bed. I was overcome with gratitude. A quick shower was also very necessary after camping outdoors, for prolonged hours, before hitting the sack! It had just gone past 4am as I glanced over at my mobile phone. A full 24 hours. Will I be doing this all over again though next year? Absolutely not! Some things will only give you that thrill of the unknown just once and I think this may be one of them.

Nothing but youth, adrenaline and the sheer joy of ticking off bucket list items is what kept me going and continues to keep me going as a traveller. Sometimes just sometimes it’s okay to listen to your crazy mind if it convinces you that you can stay up for 24 hours straight for a 12 minute moment. Just don’t let your mind convince you that all the people who made you feel bad about prioritising travelling were right. If my mind listened to those people, I would have missed out on moments like this one and this moment was to be had because this Jenny travels.