As you may recall we had friends visiting us from Darwin between Christmas and New Years Day so we did some touristy things with them when they were here.

We weren’t sure what to do for New years Eve as this was my first New Years in Brisbane and although the Aussie had been in Brisbane for New Years Eve 2016 with our American friends, he had spent that time at a house party they held.

I searched the internet and found lots of offers for meals and drink packages but most if not all were over $100 per person so we decided they weren’t for us.

I had asked around and the main recommendation was to head to Southbank where there would be free fireworks, but that it would be packed. We had enjoyed the fireworks for Riverfire so this sounded like a good plan. However the weather reports said it could be raining with thunder and lightening but that was all clear by midight.

We started the day with some breakfast and then drove up to the Mount Coot-Tha look out which has the best views over Brisbane on this side of the city (Mount Gravatt is also a great spot) and had lunch which included a Devonshire Cream Tea, yum! Whilst there we were treated to a storm and hoped it would pass over in time for the fireworks.

After lunch we headed home for nanna naps pre fireworks and headed into the city about 7pm which was later than planned but worked out quite well.

We decided to walk along Southbank to find somewhere to eat because we knew the first fireworks were at 8.30pm. When entering the Southbank area all bags were searched and we weren’t allowed to take any opened bottles in. We didn’t have anything with us because this had been publicised beforehand.

After sitting down with our food the fireworks started and literally everyone ran for the river front! It was quite funny, i’ve never seen that part of Southbank so empty.

We could see most of the fireworks from our vantage point and after finishing dinner decided to go and sit in a cafe which sold alcohol and soft drinks and pretty much set up camp there until 11.50pm. This was a great spot as we could go for a walk to stretch our legs, had good seats and great company.

At 11.50pm I said I was going to go down closer to the river front and the Aussie dashed ahead and found us the perfect patch of grass to sit down on. Unfortunately as predicted, once the fireworks started everyone around us stood up so we also had to but it really didn’t matter, the fireworks were great and it was lovely to spend New Years Eve with the Aussie.

Afterwards we started walking back to the Queen Street Mall bus stop. On the way we found that everyone was in great spirits and saw hardly any, if any, drunk people. The Police were breaking up a bit of a fight between a few girls but otherwise everyone was high fiving and wishing each other a Happy New Year.

It was a bit disappointing that the bus stop was closed or no buses were running because that information was not too easily available beforehand, but we walked over to the Central Station instead and caught the train home which was free as was all public transport between 8.45pm and 5am.

All in all our New Years Eve was pretty perfect. The pressure to go out and have an “amazing time” is high this time of year but ours was very relaxed and turned out great.