Australia: Celebration nation rockets into the new year 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

ACROSS Australia the new year rituals were duly observed tonight, as revellers gathered to greet 2014 in style.

Sydney's dazzling harbour shone under the glow of more than seven tonnes of pyrotechnics at a cost of $6 million. More than 1.6 million partygoers positioned themselves at vantage points around the iconic Harbour Bridge at the centre of the country's biggest fireworks display.

Meanwhile, the nation's other capital cities were also enjoying magnificent light shows, with crowds streaming into central Melbourne for a 10-minute display that was to be blasted from 22 locations at midnight.

The streets of Sydney were shut off for its three New Year's Eve fireworks shows, themed Shine, at 9pm, 10.30pm and midnight. From dawn, eager spectators began filing into the harbour foreshore carrying everything from rugs and chairs to fishing rods and kettles as they vied to snatch the best view.

Access to the Opera House and Blues Point Reserve was shut off from 12.30pm as crowds reached capacity. As temperatures neared 27 degrees at the Botanic Gardens, those couldn't get access to shade stripped down to their swimwear. Ross Jollie, from the UK, said he was looking forward to seeing the show firsthand, having spent a lifetime viewing it on television.

"They are the first fireworks you see on TV, so definitely it is the place to be," he said.

At 10.30pm, a one-minute cracker show based on an absurdist self-portrait by the night's artistic ambassador Reg Mombassa will be launched. "

The cranium universe display will basically be the stars, the planets and the sun inside someone's head but on the sky," he told reporters today.

While remaining tight-lipped about the particulars, Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the bridge effect, to be unveiled just after midnight, will be "bigger than ever". For the first time in a decade, more than 1000 fireworks will also be launched off the Opera House's sails. But it hasn't been good news for all.

About 10,000 people have missed out on a New Year's Eve party at the newly opened Wet`n'Wild theme park in Sydney, after promoters cancelled the event just hours before it was due to kick off. Event organiser One Cube Entertainment said it had to cancel the festival because of "a major technical production issue" and will hold a replacement concert on Australia Day.

NSW Fair Trading Minister Stuart Ayres said a case manager has been appointed to deal with complaints and to ensure full refunds are granted where requested. Sydney's midnight show will be the first in a wave of pyrotechnics to usher in 2014 from Hong Kong to Dubai. Dubai is hoping to break the Guinness World Record for the largest display, pledging to set off more than 400,000 fireworks. Kuwait set the mark in 2011 with an hour-long blast of 77,282 fireworks. Before that cities across Asia will hail the New Year, with Hong Kong boasting the biggest-ever countdown show for the Chinese city. Fireworks will soar from skyscrapers and a one-kilometre line of barges along Victoria Harbour in a "wish upon a star" tourism board show. In Japan, shoppers were busy buying crabs, tuna sashimi and other delicacies to feast in the New Year, with noodle shops doing an especially brisk trade. However, in areas ravaged by Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, celebrations were muted. In Tacloban, which bore the brunt of the November 8 storm, officials were preparing a midnight fireworks display to try to boost spirits, despite nearly 8000 dead or missing. Aid agencies are also organising free concerts or distributing food for the traditional New Year's Eve dinner.

Seoul will ring in 2014 with a ritual clanging of the city's 15th-century bronze bell 33 times, reflecting the ancient practice of marking a new year.

In Singapore, people will flock to the financial district for fireworks while thousands of white spheres will be launched to bob on Marina Bay, holding residents' wishes for 2014. Jakarta has set up 12 city centre stages for performances to showcase the vast archipelago's kaleidoscope of cultures. However, 6500 police will be out to ensure security amid warnings that extremists in the Muslim-majority nation may target the celebrations, prompting travel warnings from countries including neighbouring Australia. Tonga, located near the international dateline, will be one of the first nations to greet 2014. The religious Pacific state is holding a prayer festival that culminates with bamboo "cannon" fired into the air. In Rio de Janeiro, authorities are predicting 2.3 million people - a third of them tourists - will crowd Copacabana Beach for fireworks and pop music. The theme will be romantic, said the city's tourism secretary, Antonio Pedro Figueira de Mello. "At one moment of the musicalised fireworks, the music sort of falls, and there we have a kiss in Copacabana, we'll hear a 'smack', ... we'll have 100 hearts exploding on Copacabana beach to toast for this reveillon of love," he said. Major spectaculars will also light up Moscow's Red Square, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and central London when Big Ben bongs midnight. An expected one million revellers will gather in New York to mark the stroke of midnight and the traditional New Year's Eve ball-drop over Times Square. Cape Town will have a free concert with fireworks and a 3D tribute to Nelson Mandela who died December 5. Images from the anti-apartheid hero's life will be projected onto City Hall where he gave his first speech after release from 27 years in prison in 1990.