An explosive end to Oz-Bus and goodbye to 2010!…

We made it!!! After six months of overland travel through four continents, twenty-five countries and God knows how many time zones, we arrived in Sydney in time to see in the New Year! It was an emotional last few kilometres as Oz-Bus 21 drove into Australia’s most famous city, but we felt a tremendous sense of achievement for all that we had seen and done since we left London in July.

Thankfully, the drive from Canberra was only four hours long so we had plenty of time to relax before making plans for the evening’s celebrations. The end of the decade meant that Sydney was hosting the ‘biggest party on the planet’ and we were so pleased that we would be here to see in 2011 before anyone else in the world!

That afternoon we met up with a couple of friends, Luke & Kristen, for lunch. They have been living in Sydney for about three years and we last saw them a year ago when they visited England for Christmas. They took us to their favourite bistro to eat where we had a few celebratory drinks and chatted about our plans for the evening. We decided that we would meet up with the rest of the Oz Busers who had chosen a vantage point on the other side of the harbour to watch the fireworks from. Before heading over there we stocked up on booze and went back to their apartment to start the celebrations and get changed. Luckily I managed to fit into one of Kristen’s dresses and borrowed some shoes for the night. She did my makeup for me too and it was so good to feel like a ‘real girl’ again instead of a disheveled backpacker!

We decided to get a taxi over to our vantage point (Bradley’s Head) instead of taking the ferry, but still had to walk for nearly 30mins to reach the rocky beach where the rest of the Oz-Busers were partying. It was an excellent spot – we had a great view of Harbour Bridge and the Opera House in the distance. The reflections in the water from the surrounding skyscrapers were just beautiful and once again reminded us of how fortunate we were to be there.

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As the drinks flowed and the anticipation built up everyone got very excited. We had a great laugh as we waited for midnight to approach and spent the evening laughing and joking with our friends.

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When the fireworks started the cheers were almost deafening. They really were spectacular and we can’t think of anywhere we’d have rather been than stood there watching this world-renowned display together.

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It was a fantastic end to a fantastic trip and it’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the other side of the world!

Despite Oz Bus 21 coming to an end, all is not over for us! We’ve well and truly got the travelling bug and will soon be off to New Zealand by ourselves. A couple of weeks to recuperate in Sydney, then we’ll catch a flight to Auckland and endeavour to circumnavigate both the North and South Islands in a camper van!

So it’s the end of another chapter in our epic trip across the globe, but we have many more great adventures to come! Watch this space and we’ll tell you all about them..!