New Year's Eve

There is something to be said for a celebration done in a big way. Melbourne certainly knows how to do this, and they proved it on New Year's Eve with a city wide celebration starting at around 5:00 PM and lasting until well after midnight. Two fireworks displays were held, one for families at dusk and the other more properly held at midnight to usher in the New Year.
     Our main objective was to experience the feel of a Melbourne New Year's celebration, and we were told that the best way to do this was to spend it down at the Yarra River where there would be music, entertainment and fireworks throughout the night. After consulting our friends, the Proctors, we all decided to camp between the Center for the Performing Arts and the Arts Needle in a small grassy knoll where there would be a live band and a good view of the fireworks. Those of the Proctor family that wanted to attend appeared in our driveway around five PM, and we took a tram from Lygon Street down to the Arts Center. We found a suitable site upon the slope of the knoll and spread out our blankets and food to settle in for the evening.
     The volume of people began to build as we approached the 9:00 PM dusk hour, but we were unaware of the sheer volume that this crowd was to become. We were shielded from its true size by all of the buildings of the central business district of Melbourne which surrounded us.
     It must be said that the weather was not the best. With the presence of a north wind, the temperatures soared to 42 C (a mere 106 F) with a humidity of around 50%. This was not sweaty weather, but it was still very hot (the Ozzies would say it was bloody hot). I could feel the energy in the air on my eyeballs! We tried to lie low and not get too worked up. Fortunately, around ten PM the wind changed direction and came off the water which lies to the south and west of the city. This brought instant relief.
     In between the intervals of fireworks, we strolled along the river to work off some of the food and check out the entertainment. Many folks had made reservations at the restaurants that line the river bank, some had private parties on tour boats on the river, while others, like us, took a more casual approach to the arrangements. Fi and Ari got caught up with a street performer, and Fi had fun being an assistant, as you can see in the photo.
     Ari and Fi wandered off on their own to explore some of the artwork scattered around the river bank area and to have some fun with Ari's new camera. You can see some of her handiwork here and also on the gallery page linked from here.
     The city fathers had declared the city centered proceedings as non-alcoholic, and had ordinances passed to apply fines for folks who were caught in violation. As a result there was more dignity to the proceedings than one might expect for a New Year's Eve celebration. Ari had brought along a bottle of sparkling Shiraz that she purchased during our wine tasting tour, so we felt the need to be discrete about its consumption. At first, we were not aware of the prohibition or even the fines. Fortunately, we were not approached. As the population grew, so did the security activity to deal with the increase in violations. We saw no one caught, but did see many running from enforcers who were not interested in the chase in 106 F weather.
     The band planted on our knoll must have been hired as part of the larger program of entertainment. They were quite entertaining, but could not project very far into the crowd as they were not using the weapons grade speakers to assault the listeners. Thank Heaven for small favors. They did work their way into the crowd and got folks dancing, however.
     The early fireworks show was quite good and long. Most of the families lined up along the river bank to get the best view. The place was packed: "Chock a Block" as the Ozzies would say. The displays were located on the river on barges about 400 meters apart from each other. We could see only two, but I think there were more along the river behind the buildings that were just behind us. They also seemed to be synchronized to each other so the same type of display was seen all along the river. It was quite impressive, albeit without the heavy duty explosive noise generators that characterize US fireworks displays. The midnight show was even better. It lasted longer, was the culmination of the evening's entertainment and succeeded in projecting a measure of excitement in the air.
     Once the fireworks finale was over, everyone made their way to parties and home. The crowd was so large and dense, that I was in partial fear for my life as I tried to cross the bridge. If there had been a panic, I believe people would have been trampled to death. I had never experienced such a crowd so close together before and got a sense of what could happen when panic grips a crowd. Once clear of the bridge, we made our way up one of the main drags to a waiting tram that took us back to the house.
     Meanwhile, Ari and Fi decided to continue to party. They went down to a section of the river known as the Docklands to check out the scene. From the photographic record, it appears that both had a good time.