New Years Eve in U.A.E (Abu Dhabi)
Emily French
My mother has always said that Abu Dhabi is the perfect place to have a mid-life crisis. Now, having seen the fervour with which the Emiratis embrace the spangle and flashy lights for Christmas and New Year, I can really see what she means.
Given that neither Christmas nor New Year feature on the Muslim calendar, I was not expecting grand public celebrations or decorations from Abu Dhabi. However, the United Arab Emirates celebrates National Day in December and, given its proximity to Christmas and New Year, the decorations from National Day are kindly left up until the beginning of January. And what decorations they are – bold, sparkly lights illuminate every roundabout, shopping mall and stray palm tree.
Palm trees & Palm trees-shaped islands, you can find it all here in U.A.E
New Year’s Eve itself prompts an extravagant firework display down the Corniche, a 6km coastal road home to some of Abu Dhabi’s most expensive properties and hotels. From a family friend’s apartment where we spent the evening, we had an incredible view of the firework display that stretched along the seafront. As the night wore on, I had the slightly disturbing experience of watching tipsy middle-aged celebrators seize the opportunity to prove their vocal talents at karaoke. Abu Dhabi residents can enjoy a tipple if they are in possession of a liquor permit or on premises that hold a liquor license – and the local ex-patriot community can be relied on to take full advantage!
So it turns out that, despite being a devout Muslim nation, Abu Dhabi really is not a bad place to celebrate Christmas and New Year. And given that 2011 heralds the Emirates’ 40th birthday, next year’s celebrations should prompt decorations really worthy of a mid-life crisis!
New Years Eve in Australia (Tasmania)
Rissa Dimitroff
New Years Eve, the most celebrated night of the year. To some it might just seem as though it is another night, nothing special, but to me it is and always has been my favourite night of the year. It is the one night when it is socially acceptable to go out, drink that little bit too much, do silly things and just generally have an amazing time with friends or family. The question of what to do is always a tough one. Do you go out to the city and watch the fireworks? Stay in and have a party with friends? Go to a pre-organised club party? I am usually a strong advocate of the house party, but this year I decided to do something a little different. Eight friends and I made the decision to try The Falls Music and Arts Festival, and opted for Marion Bay, Tasmania instead of the standard Lorne, Victoria as this year, Marion Bay had the arguably better New Years Eve line-up. Three days of camping fun with friends and awesome bands, what else could you want?
Heading to Marion Bay was a tiny bit more expensive than if we had simply decided to go to Lorne, but seeing Interpol and The Klaxons play at midnight New Years Eve was much better than the Lorne alternative, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Not to mention, travelling by plane, or boat if you prefer, brings another level of excitement to the whole adventure. Our Falls escapade started bright and early at 7am the first day. We all met at Melbourne Airport, travelled together to Hobart then caught a designated Falls Festival shuttle bus to the Marion Bay camping and festival site. We were all very excited as the bus drew up to the main gate, but so much less excited when we saw how far we had to walk lugging our tents with us. Sure, it’s all part of the experience, but next time? I’m taking a car. One of my favourite things about camping festivals is making “tent neighbours” and having new cool people, as well as your friends, to hang out with for the weekend. Lucky for me, I had met some pretty cool tent neighbours at a previous festival who were also at this Falls Festival so we had some extra pre-organised tent neighbours to hang out with.
Each day was as fun as the previous one, with my favourite moments including watching Angus and Julia Stone sing ‘Hold On’, Canadian band Hot Hot Heat perform, well, everything, and running around with friends meeting all sorts of new people. I also must admit, as lame as it may sound, we were all skeptical about seeing Paul Kelly perform but when we heard “I’ve done all the dumb things” everyone’s excitement levels immediately rose and we realised that this was probably one of the best performers we had ever seen.
The actual night of the 31st, New Years Eve, was so much fun. The previous two days had helped to set the atmosphere for the main night. My friends and I grabbed our picnic blanket, some beverages, some snacks and of course a lot of glowsticks, and headed to the main stage. There we pretty much sat for a solid 12 hours as we watched band after band and as the positive tension in the air rose. Then the countdown started. On the big screen where everyone could see it, numbers flashed at us as they steadily counted down to the new year. As the numbers reached ‘10’, the crowd started chanting, on top of the band playing, “Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven…” until it finally hit 1, at which point everyone started cheering and hugging each other.
I can safely say that spending my favourite night of the year at a music festival, one of my favourite things, was definitely the right decision and I strongly recommend it to anyone.
