Happy New Year!

First the stunningly beautiful panorama view over Sydney from across the harbour by night. This picture was taken on New Year's Eve, in a quiet moment before the fireworks started.

The Sydney fireworks (click here for a YouTube video) are the famous event of the year that attract millions. I went with my housemates Peggy and Lochlyn to watch it from one of the best locations: Cremorne Point, where you have a wonderful view of the harbour, the city, the opera hall and the harbour bridge. Imagine that some people have been waiting there since noon to reserve a prime location, with picnic blankets and foldable chairs. We (just behind them) went there from 9 p.m. to midnight, and had a long 1 hour walk home.

The fireworks were lovely and gigantic, reflecting in the water. They were fired from 6 or 7 special firework barks anchored along the harbour, from the harbour bridge and from the highest skyscraper rooftops in the city. The weather was perfect, mild, warm and no wind, good for shorts and t-shirt the whole night. One other thing that's different from New Year's Eve in Germany, besides the temperatures (I hear it's freezing cold there now, -10°C) is that there are no private fireworks at all, it's illegal in Australia, so there are only the professional ones.

A promising start into a year that will surely be different and eventful for me.

The bad news: my Internet connection (via a USB mobile broadband modem) is still not working. So please excuse my silence over the last week. I spent countless hours on trying to get it to work, and even the tech guys from my ISP couldn't find out what's wrong. So I'm really frustrated and exhausted by now. The problem is somewhere in my laptop computer, but neither I nor anybody else could find out what it is. I'm typing this from the Starbucks Coffee shop in Sydney, Circular Quay, where I bought an hour of online time. The normal wireless LAN works fine.