Most amazing NYE ever? Your vote.

What is the secret ingredient? (pic by Tgrrr)

Contender #1: High and Dry Festival 2008

I didn’t think it was possible to top the high and dry festival. Peats Ridge Festival had been rained out, after I’d put together an indie movie set in return for free tickets. So some genius made a festival out of nothing in a day. They scavenged together the equipment that wasn’t stuck in the valley, and made magic. Beautiful drive through wine country, had to drive the car around in circles to flatten the grass to put the tent up. They tied my dreads above my head, and stuck glowsticks in them. I was the meeting point. Girls wore christmas tree lights glowing blue covered with the soy-sauce fish from sushi restaurants. Another wore tiny red devils.

We turned a couple fighting into a performance play with narrators and people sitting around. Played in a tent full of bongo drums till we broke our hands. Rocked out to live music at midnight, and took in the sunrise in our kingdom as two skinny dippers emerged from the water, very much in love. The next day was spent on the beach and covering ourselves with the mud they use for proper mud baths. We thanked the Aboriginals for letting us use their land as we drove home exhausted.

Contender #2: Halong Bay, Vietnam 2010

Sailing through 100os of  rock islands jutting out of the ocean on a Vietnamese junk boat rocks. We Jumped off the side of the junk. Canoed through caves. Playing drinking games till the sun rose. On new years eve day, we rock climbed some of the best rocks I’ve done, stayed on a private island with 34 other awesome travellers, and drank till midnight. Well, I covered my dinner with sand, counted down to one, whispered some sweet words, and passed out. On the boat ride back, nobody could understand us, we had formed our own language from in-jokes.

Contender #3 Mui Ne, Vietnam 2011

Mui Ne is awesome, if you ask below, I’ll tell you all about the kite surfing, surfing the sand dunes, poker, great bars with 50c beers, and the best office in the world. After a great Indian dinner with 3 Finish couples, we hit up DJ station. You know NYE has started when you get free Tequilla shots at the bar when you walk in. It gets even better when two Finish guy go to the bar to buy everyone drinks at the same time as we’re ordering champagne for midnight, one comes back with 7 more tequillas, and two beers each. Free Drinks! Midnight struck, champagne flowed, and to top the night off one of the Finish guys proposed to his girlfriend.

Amazing right? He set a great mood for the rest of the night, and saved on his champagne bill. There are some gorgeous photos. The night gets a little messier from then on, with a air-pressure drink being sprayed into our mouths, and a certain someone passing out (not me this year). At least he made it past 11pm this year.

Contender #4 Every Year up to 1996

Catching yabbies (fresh water shrimp) from a dam with a piece of meat and string. Hanging out with my family and friends, covered in a little hat, sunscreen, and muddy 80s clothing. Riding around on the back of a ute (truck) to find the right dam full of yabbies. Going home with a 22 gallon drum full of em, boiling the yabbies up, sitting at the kiddies table, peeling them, and maxing a sandwich with 4000 island dressing. I’ve come a long way, but I still remember this fondly.