Pat’s Point of View

Welcome to 2006.

We had a great NYE last night. Jenn and I started off with a picnic with some friends at Rodd Point (near Five Dock) and watched the 9:00 fireworks. It was a great spot right on the water, nice and shady too since it was a hot day (but not as hot as today!). We couldn’t see the bridge but you could see the fireworks over the trees and buildings so it was really good. It didn’t get too crowded either.

After the first fireworks we didn’t know what to do, and almost just went home. But then we figured it was our first New Year’s back home so we should do something, so we decided to go to a popular (and usually packed out) spot on the harbour and try our luck…given that it was about 10:00pm and most people arrive at good spots early in the morning. After driving around a bit we headed for Watson’s Bay (basically the entrance of Sydney Harbour). It’s a long way from the city but you get a great view of the bridge and the whole city skyline. There were heaps of people around so we decided to head off the beaten track into the bush.

It was very dark and we had no torch so we ended up stumbling out of the bush into the grounds of an old church. The front lawn had an amazing view straight down the harbour to the bridge. There were about 5 people there, plus the Pastor who came to talk to us. We thought he was some wierdo local who tries to chat up visitors on NYE, but we eventually caught on and worked out who he was. He opened up the church to let people some inside because it was a bit cold and windy (ironically). Then he started playing Auld Lang Syne on the wonderful old organ in the church.

As midnight approached more locals turned up (it must be their “regular” NYE spot) and there was a lovely church community spirit, a far cry from the drunken youths you’ll find everywhere else on Sydney that night. We watched the spectacular fireworks in peace and looked forward to the rest of 2006.

It then took us about an hour and a half to get home since there was so much traffic on Old South Head Road, but we made it just as we were both falling asleep.

Then today we went to a Fenech family picnic at Carss Park in Sutherland. Man was it hot, about 43 degrees C! I thought I was going to die. But it’s a lovely park, right on the water and with big covered shelters with tables. It was nice to see everyone and mingle a bit.

Needless to say by the end of today I was knackered but it’s been a great festive season.

P

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 1st, 2006 at 11:15 am and is filed under Ramblings. If you enjoyed this post, you might also like to leave a comment or follow @patrickkennedy on Twitter.

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About the author

Patrick Kennedy is a user experience strategist and design researcher based in Sydney Australia. He leads research activities that improve the user experience of cross-channel products and services; helping both designers and business decision makers in bringing those products and services to fruition. Read more.