New Year’s Eve fireworks: Celebrations in Australia and around the world to ring in 2019
New Year’s Eve fireworks went off with a bang in Australia and around the world — but a major gaffe caught revellers’ eyes.
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New Year’s Eve fireworks went off with a bang in Australia and around the world as revellers rang in 2019 with millions of others.
But in the Emerald city of Sydney, there was a major gaffe that those close to the Harbour Bridge could only get a glimpse of as fireworks exploded at midnight.
A lighting projection appeared on one of the pylons of the bridge that read: “Happy New Year 2018!”.
The error was projected to a crowd of a million people that packed out the harbour and a billion people who saw the fireworks across the world.
Social media users who spotted the typo took to Twitter and Reddit to share it with others.
News Corp Australia has contacted the City of Sydney for comment.
Happy New Year 2019. @sydney ; is it typo error? pic.twitter.com/95vhOcNaWo
â Gyanendra Regmi (@Gyanendra_Regmi) December 31, 2018
Earlier, thunderstorms lashed Sydney and drenched New Year’s Eve crowds, but the weather cleared for spectacular fireworks to light up the harbour.
Popular vantage points closed off early as hundreds of thousands of revellers counted down to the city’s party.
A record amount of pyrotechnics as well as new fireworks effects and colours lit up the skyline for 12 minutes and dazzled the more than 1.5 million spectators who packed the harbour front and parks.
More than 8.5 tonnes of fireworks comprising more than 100,000 individual effects, 35,000 of them shooting comets, were fired over the harbour by midnight.
HOW AUSTRALIA PARTIED
Tens of thousands of people crammed into prime viewing locations across Brisbane to watch fireworks from four river locations.
The biggest party was held at South Bank, where people began staking out positions with deck chairs early on Monday.
More than 85,000 people visited the alcohol-free zone to watch the pyrotechnics, which were fired from five river barges between Victoria and Goodwill bridges.
GOLD COAST
On the Gold Coast, crowds enjoyed fireworks along the length of the famous strip with the biggest displays at Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise.
MELBOURNE
More than 350,000 people swarmed into Melbourne’s CBD to catch a glimpse of 14 tonnes of fireworks which fired from the stroke of midnight to usher in 2019.
Saturn ring-shaped fireworks, and shooting star-style bursts to a throng of green, red and purple displays have lit up the city skyline spanning seven kilometres.
A thunderous roar rippled across the city as the sky sparkled, fireworks bursting into a rainbow of colours in more 36,500 effects fired from 22 CBD buildings for 10 minutes.
It had been synchronised to a soundtrack by Aboriginal Australian hip-hop artist Adam Briggs.
ADELAIDE
Tens of thousands packed the city, Glenelg and other usual tourist spots across the state, as
crowds gathered in the city early for the Elder Park celebrations.
NEW YORK
New York’s Times Square has erupted with fireworks and cheers at the stroke of midnight as thousands of hardy merrymakers braved pouring rain and watched the glowing New Year’s Eve ball complete its midnight descent to mark the start of 2019.
For the multitudes who gathered in the famed midtown Manhattan crossroads, the thrilling moment was reward for enduring hours of standing in a steady downpour during the waning hours of 2018. Helping to keep spirits high was a slate of performers including Christina Aguilera, New Kids on the Block and Sting who entertained the resilient crowd. Many donned plastic rain ponchos and sported colourful, oversized top hats handed out by organisers.
GREECE
LONDON
Britain’s capital London opted to usher in the new year by celebrating its relationship with Europe, despite Britain’s impending departure from the European Union.
London’s fireworks display sought to show Europe that the British capital would remain “open-minded” and “outward-looking” post-Brexit, said the city’s mayor Sadiq Khan.
LEBANON
LITHUANIA
PHILIPPINES
Dozens of people have been injured ahead of New Year’s Eve, when many across the Philippines set off powerful firecrackers in one of Asia’s most violent celebrations despite a government scare campaign and threats of arrests. The Department of Health said it has recorded more than 50 firecracker injuries in the past 10 days, which is expected to increase overnight when Filipinos usher in 2019.
Officials have urged centralised fireworks displays to discourage wild and sometimes fatal merrymaking. The notorious tradition, worsened by celebratory gunfire that turned deadly, stems from a Chinese-influenced belief that noise drives away evil and misfortune.
IRAQ
DUBAI
Fireworks crackled at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, as hundreds of thousands of spectators gathered downtown to watch the spectacular display.
The fireworks replace last year’s somewhat anticlimactic LED lightshow that ran down the facade of the 828-meter-tall tower.
Cafes and restaurants with a view of the Burj Khalifa charge a premium for their locale on New Year’s Eve. Casual sandwich chain Pret a Manger, for example, charges $817 for a table of four. That price gets you hot and cold drinks and some canapes. For burgers near the action, fast food chain Five Guys charged $408 per person for unlimited burgers, hotdogs, fries, milkshakes and soda. Elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates, the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah attempted to set a new Guinness World Record with the longest straight-line display of fireworks reaching 11.83 kilometres.
GERMANY
In Berlin and Munich, people went to some of Germany’s biggest New Year’s Eve parties.
People queued to see Bonnie Tyler, DJ Bobo, Alice Meron, Nico Santos and Eagle Eye Cherry, with a fireworks and laser display.
AUCKLAND
In Auckland, tens of thousands gathered around Sky Tower as fireworks exploded from the top of the 328m structure.
Across the rest of New Zealand, thousands took to beaches and streets, becoming the first major nation in the world to usher in 2019, where fireworks boomed and crackled above city centres and harbours.
HONG KONG
In Hong Kong, hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets on both sides of the city’s Victoria Harbour for a spectacular 10-minute firework show.
Some $1.8 million worth of pyrotechnics bathed the city’s skyscrapers in a dizzying array of colours accompanied by a score that included Auld Lang Syne sung in Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
TAIPEI
In Taipei, revellers gathered in the city to see fireworks explode over the 101 building. Formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center – it is a landmark supertall skyscraper in Xinyi District.
MYANMAR
Fireworks exploded over the city of Yangon as locals partied the night away with their friends and family.
INDONESIA
Indonesians in Yogyakarta rang in the New Year with a fireworks display across their night skies.
FRANCE
Parisians and tourists gathered on the Champs-Elysees avenue to celebrate New Year’s Eve under heavy security.
A light show illustrating the theme of brotherhood took place on the Arc de Triomphe monument at the top of the Champs-Elysees.
Anti-government protesters from the “yellow vest” movement issued calls on social media for “festive” demonstrations on the famous avenue.
PAKISTAN
Locals watched the fireworks display during the New Year celebrations in Rawalpindi.
JAPAN
Earlier, some 30,000 people in Japan welcomed in the New Year at Saitama Super Arena with Floyd Mayweather.
The American boxer soundly defeated his opponent, Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, in the first round of what was billed as three rounds of entertainment.
THE NETHERLANDS
Locals celebrated with fireworks near the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam.
RUSSIA
Russia saw in the new year progressively over several time zones starting in the far east, with concerts and light shows planned for Moscow city parks, and more than 1,000 ice rinks opened for merrymakers.
But a tower block gas explosion that killed at least four people and left dozens missing cast a shadow over New Year’s celebrations.
In his New Year’s address to the nation, President Vladimir Putin urged people to work together to “increase well-being and quality of life so that all citizens of Russia... feel changes for the better in the coming year.”
THAILAND
Meanwhile, hundreds of Thais travelled to Takien Temple in a suburb of Bangkok to lie inside coffins for traditional funeral rituals.
Participants believe the ceremony - symbolising death and rebirth - helps rid them of bad luck and allows them to be born again for a fresh start in the new year.
They held flowers and incense in their hands as monks covered them with pink sheets and chanted prayers for the dead.
SINGAPORE
Thousands of Singaporeans watched on as fireworks went off at Marina Bay.
MALAYSIA
In Malaysia, fireworks exploded in front of Malaysia’s landmark building, the Petronas Twin Towers, during the New Year’s celebration in Kuala Lumpur.
KIRIBATI
Earlier, the Pacific island nation of Kiribati was the first in the world to welcome the new year, greeting 2019 with muted celebrations after spending 2018 on the front line of the battle against climate change.
The new year was welcomed in the capital, Tarawa, with church services and mostly quiet private celebrations.
NEW YORK
In New York, Snoop Dogg, Sting and Christina Aguilera will welcome 2019 in a packed Times Square along with revellers from around the world who come to see the traditional crystal ball drop.
Spectators began assembling early in the afternoon for the made-for-TV extravaganza.
The celebration will take place under tight security, with partygoers checked for weapons and then herded into pens, ringed by metal barricades, where they wait for the stroke of midnight.
Originally published as New Year’s Eve fireworks: Celebrations in Australia and around the world to ring in 2019