Sydney New Year's Eve - The Midnight Countdown

The Midnight Countdown

The climax of the event is at 11:59pm with the countdown to the New Year. Each year, it is done differently but in recent years they have had some similarities.

NYE1996 - 10 second pyrotechnic countdown. Each second, one shooting comet shot off a different building starting from North Sydney and finishing at AMP Tower to form an 'Olympic Torch' to welcome in 1997. Four shooting comets were supposed to be fired off the Harbour Bridge (Two off the pylons and two off the arch).
NYE1997 - Unknown
NYE1998 - 10 second pyrotechnic countdown. Each second, an aerial shell fired off the eastern barge. AMP Tower turned into a 'ticking clock' with shooting comets slowly rotating around the top of the tower. The soundtrack for the countdown was a 'ticking clock' before a 'bell toll' rang in 1999. This 'bell toll' also turned AMP Tower into an 'Olympic Torch'.
NYE1999 - 15 second countdown. The 'Apollo 11 countdown' as well as air raid sirens provided the soundtrack for the countdown. At five seconds to go, the first fireworks is seen launched off the eastern barges. Two seconds later, AMP Tower exploded mines each second until the millennium. All firing points exploded when midnight arrived. This was complemented by a projected countdown on one of the city buildings.
NYE2000 - 10 second pyrotechnic countdown. A larger than life birthday cake was unveiled well before midnight to celebrate 100 years of Australia as a nation. It was placed in front of the Northern Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House on a pontoon/barge. Each second closer to midnight, a pyrotechnic effect was fired from the centre of the cake. At midnight, the cake lit up with a 'chasing' lighting effect running from the bottom of the cake to the top.
NYE2001 - 15 second countdown
NYE2003 - A 15 second countdown was accompanied with the striking of a gong at midnight.
NYE2011 - A 90 second countdown was used on the bridge effect for the very first time.
NYE2012 - A 10 second countdown. Comets were launched from Jet Skis well before midnight.

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Famous quotes containing the word midnight:

    Sir Andrew Aguecheek. I know, to be up late is to be up late.
    Sir Toby Belch. A false conclusion. I hate it as an unfilled can. To be up after midnight and to go to bed then, is early; so that to go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)