Riverfire!

This weekend marked the beginning of Brisbane's Riverfestival, a week-long celebration of the Brisbane River and the lifestyle of the people here. The festival is kicked off by Riverfire, which is the biggest fireworks display held here each year. I'd been hearing about Riverfire since I arrived in Brisbane, and was SO excited to see it from my absolutely perfect vantage point!!

This fireworks show is a big event in Brisbane, so people wake up early on the day of to secure a spot at the best vantage points. It's like the 4th of July! All the roads surrounding my apartment complex are closed and people start arriving at 10 in the morning.

By the afternoon there are lots of people playing football in the streets and BBQing all along the cliffs. To keep people entertained there is an airshow that I also got to watch from my porch!

The majority of the fireworks (3000 tons in all) are set off from barges positioned along the river from Southbank all the way to the tip of Kangaroo Point. They are set at intervals so that people who own boats can battle for space to watch from the river. In addition, fireworks are also set off from the Goodwill Bridge, Story Bridge, and the tops of several of the skyscrapers in the city!

By dark, there were thousands of people along the cliffs! The news reported that approximately 600,000 people gather here and in Southbank to watch the show.

John and I had decided to have a little party, so we each invited some of our friends, got a ton of food, a new grill (so excited!), and got down to business yesterday! It was wonderful - we ended up with an apartment full of great people and lots of yummy food.

The show is opened by what everyone knows as the "dump and burn." I've been hearing about this for WEEKS now and was really excited to see it happen! I got to see them practice on Friday, so that only added to the anticipation. Basically, an F-111 jet does a low fly-over with its burners on full tilt - I guess dumping fuel and burning it off? It looks like a rocket shooting past, and from my porch you can even feel the heat as it flies by! So cool!

The rest are videos and pictures from the fireworks show, which went on for about 30 minutes. It was spectacular - my mouth was hanging open by the end! I'm so glad I got to see this.

Me, Leah, Ina, our new friend Sophie (just started the MPH program), and Jody!

I love this picture because it shows how many buildings in the city also had fireworks shooting from their rooftops. All the ones going up in a straight line are coming from buildings - wacky! There were also a few of the sky scrapers in the city and a few buildings on Kangaroo Point that were shooting fireworks as well. I can't imagine how complicated the planning is for this!