It’s amazing how fast 2005 has gone by! It’s a year full of new things, adventures, new business & happy times. I will reflect on year 2005 in a separate post. It’s the FIRST time I celebrate new year outside of Brisbane, which means it’s the first time I watch fireworks outside of Brisbane! And boy was it crowded! But here it goes…
New Year’s Eve was not really anything special, but was spent browsing bookstores for property development books. Come evening, it’s obvious the early crowd was already building up at Darling Harbour. I managed to squeeze a 1-hour swimming session at the Cook Phillip Aquatic Centre. It’s definitely a very hot day. Around 5:30pm, we all went to Jean’s house for a little gathering at Ashfield. The last time I saw her was during Snowboarding a couple of months ago! She’s even got a boyfriend (Ben) now! Marissa & I ended up meeting quite a few new people there. The food was very good. It was kind of embarrasing that we brought only pizza, while everyone else brought gourmet food! Food aside, we practically spent 4 hours watching 2 movies. We left about 10:30pm.
For fireworks, we had a choice between watching it from my office at work (a bit far, but clear view of the bridge), at Circular Quay (might be crowded), and from Anzac Bridge (angled view of the bridge). Since I really wanted to see the fireworks close up, like I always do in Brisbane, we walked to Circular Quay around 11:30pm. Just when we thought it was gonna be relatively easy to find a good spot to watch fireworks, it turned out to be a nightmare. We managed to only get a glimpse of the bridge, and did not see any ‘hearts’ fireworks that was talked about in the news all week. Nor were there any commentary or count-down to be heard. We were definitely too far away. Quite a disappointment.
New Year itself was a different story. We woke up at 6:30am, to pickup a hired 12-seater van for a BBQ in Thirroul Beach (Stanwell Park near Wollongong). The weather forecast for today is 46 degrees!! Nevertheless, Kim’s family (Marissa’s sister) & 3 other families from Marissa’s work decided to come. It was a rather ‘family-oriented’ day with lots of little kids. We secured a location under a big tree for shade. After a bit of food & alcohol, Marissa & I decided to go for a swim at the swimming pool nearby. Little ‘Vivienne’ came with us, and had a bit of water-splashing in the pool. Not long after that, it’s time for the beach itself. The sand was so hot, I could feel the sole of my feet burning walking on the sand even with thongs on! Luckily the water was cold. Later in the afternoon, the kids dragged me to help them with their ‘sand swimming pool’ project. Basically I helped them dig holes in the sand. Eventually it was big enough to fit 5 people in a little pool! Little Vivienne was also collecting little interesting rocks. The fun was soon ended by adults wanting to go home. The rest of the evening was spent at Kim’s place for dinner BBQ. I spent most of the evening playing with kids in air-conditioned lounge!! The adults were all talking in Vietnamese, so I had no reason to stay. Nevertheless, playing foos ball with the kids, and watching the girls playing with electric ink pen were, strangely, fun!
What an end to the day! For tomorrow.. my sister & boyfriend (John) will be coming! Looks like it’s gonna be yet another busy day!
