During my year abroad in Singapore, I visited Australia for two weeks over Christmas and new year. I spent Christmas day on a beach at Fremantle, near Perth, and new year in Sydney.

When a new year comes around, a common image on the TV news is the fireworks on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I wanted to see these fireworks myself, so my second week was spent in Sydney.

It was a beautiful day, which is just as well, because I spent a lot of time waiting. I sat down a bit further down the hill from here, for something like 10 hours before the fireworks started at midnight. It was an extraordinary experience, big crowds and loads of fireworks all round the sky.

The weather turned for the next few days sadly, it was very reminiscent of cold, wet days in Scotland. I visited Bondi Beach, and it was raining, made it feel more like Rothesay!

Edited with darktable. Fairly major adjustments to exposure, including local contrast filtering.