New Year's Eve in Melbourne

A leisurely day, pacing ourselves for the night to come. A walk by the Yarra River,  a Tatt's Lotto ticket, (hoping to win 31 million!)  & a "nana" nap in the afternoon for those who needed one. M&M returned from their trip visiting friends & are spending tonight on a city roof top, so they should get a great view of the fireworks.

In to Melbourne with Joy & Barrie, on the train - free travel for all on NYE. Open air concerts in the central parks - again all free! We started at Yarra Park,  close to the MCG, where there was live music & family fireworks at 9.30, a brilliant display though the fruit bats didn't like it !

We particularly enjoyed the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, a 25 piece band who got everyone rocking!






We walked on to Alexandria Park on the banks of the Yarra in the centre of the city for more live music - 3 stages with an assortment of bands - until the finale fireworks, set off on the sky scrapers, lit up the skyline.
 The Arts Centre spire, where some of the fireworks were placed, gave an unintentional extra display when it caught fire, dropping flaming debris on the building below. No one was hurt as far as we know, & the situation appearred to be under control as we left to walk back down the other bank of the Yarra - the Birrarung Marr- to catch our train back to Eltham.
A great night, totally alcohol free, as there is a ban on alcohol in public places, which meant 500,000 people were in a suitable condition to enjoy themselves & we saw no trouble at all.
Thank you Melbourne for a great start to 2012!          Happy New Year everyone ! xx