I have spent New Years Eve in the Docklands in Central Melbourne. Compared with New Years Eve in Berlin, the party in Melbourne was a bit boring. There were a lot of “Crowd Managers” but I don’t know why. It was not filled at all.

There were two fireworks: one at 9.15 pm for the families with smaller children and one at midnight. Both were reasonable and worth looking. I guess not as spectacular as Sydney but anyway…

The most annoying was actually that alcohol was not only not allowed in public areas, as it is the complete year over, but there wasn’t even a place where they sold alcoholic beverages. So… no champagne at midnight. That might be the reason why the New Year Eve celebration was not so exited. I had expected more from a city like this. Especially when the weather is so nice that you can celebrate all night long open air in a Tee. But I guess the government might have a reason for not allowing alcohol on events like this. I have seen on Discovery Channel that sometimes people can lose control when they drink. And since all Australians were prisoners once… Photos here .