Witness a world class firework display

Every year on Dec 31st the TV starts to show pictures and live footage of the new year being celebrated across the globe. A lot of the time this means a huge firework display with the backdrop of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Australians seem to love a firework display and they do it well. The best display I have ever seen was in Western Australia when I just happened to be over there for the Australia day celebrations. I was actually over there for a wedding but the dates coincided so I found myself caught up in the revelry. The whole day was a build up to the firework display, the local radio and TV stations were covering the celebrations and we joined the masses that had gathered by the Bell Tower in Perth. We had taken advantage of the boat rides that had been arranged for these celebrations and there seemed to be hundreds of other boats on the river doing exactly the same thing. From our vantage point we could see three pontoons moored up in the middle of the Swan River, the TV and radio crews were constantly reminding us that each of these vessels contained about $1 million worth of explosives and as soon as it was dark enough to fully appreciate the spectacle then all of this would be released to the world in all of its glory. Obviously we had to wait for night to fall before anything would happen but the whole event was an incredible celebration and it gave us the chance to really get to know the family that my mate was marrying into and also spend time with his parents who had come over from the UK. In all I think there must have been about 30 people in our group and all of them were in good spirits. At about 9.00 it was dark enough for the Skyworks (as they referred to them in Australia) and the countdown began. I have to admit that I was expecting it to be a huge anti-climax but it was immensely impressive, just as you thought it was winding down there would be another onslaught of lights and explosions all as impressive as the first. After this experience I have not been to an organised firework event as there is simply no way that any other pyrotechnic experience could compare to what I witnessed here and none of the photographs or videos I have seen of the Australia day celebrations do the display any justice at all. The sheer vastness and area of the sky that was covered simply cannot be captured on film.