Coogee New Year

The last day of 2012 was our changeover day at Coogee. J&J & E&A were looking tanned and rested after a week of beach, movie and eating out fun.  We had a picnic lunch together in a shady patch under the trees lining the beach and then admired the girls' prowess on the playground equipment.

Ella had an AWESOME week. She looks and sounds a few months older than when I saw her a week ago.  She told me the main difference between Canberra and Sydney is that there are lots of people with tattoos in Sydney and that the TV remote is much quieter.  Josh reminded me that because Ella has been coming to Coogee/Sydney for most of her life it seems totally normal to her (apart from all the people with tattoos).

Her big news for the week is her now wobbly top front tooth (first noted when chewing on a pizza at Bar 100 at The Rocks).

It felt very quiet when they all left.  Coogee itself, however, was already gearing up for its family friendly New Year celebrations.  By 8.30pm crowds of people were making their way down to the beach and the esplanade, finding the best vantage points to watch the fireworks display on the headland of Dunningham Reserve.  The mood was relaxed and celebratory with hundreds of kids running around with glo sticks and sparklers set up in the sand.

Sydney is one of the New Year's Eve capitals of the world and this year the harbour side fireworks  drew crowds of over 1.6 million people.  Kylie Minogue (the "iconic chanteuse" as I heard her described by an ABC newsreader) provided the inspiration for this year's efforts (the best ever so they say!) We could hear all the booms bangs and whistles of the 15 minute New Year display quite clearly from our bedroom in Coogee.

By contrast the fireworks at Coogee Beach provided much more modest entertainment - but very much appreciated by the thousands of people lining the beach. 

We enjoyed walking home by way of a car free Coogee Bay Road.  We went for our first (not too) early morning walk for 2013 the next morning and there were few signs around of the previous night's excitement apart from the sight of a few people staggering around the beach a little the worse for wear. We are wishing all our loved ones a happy, wonderful 2013.