River Fire Brisbane 29/09/2012

Before I get to the grand finale of Brisbane Festival, let me just mention that the previous night was the worst of my trip. It was Friday night and I understand that most people like to party and get drunk on Friday night. But there are just as many (I swear it wasn’t just me) who like to sleep on a Friday night. It was a rude awakening (or two, to be more precise) for the four sleepers in our 8 bed dorm when the four partiers got back. Drunk and high. They slammed doors, turned on the light and LEFT it on for hours, and were as noisy as if they were on their own. I was physically incapable of yelling, or even opening my eyes, but on the inside, I was boiling. At one point the light went off again and the noise subsided, so the four sleepers went back to sleep asap. Only to be woken again at 4.30am because two very, very high guys sat on our balcony with the doors open, arguing at the top of their lungs that it is okay to take away the land of the indigenous people because the Romans did the same. The combination of yet another disruption of sleep and the complete dumb-ass-ness of that argument got enough life into me to yell at them. Which they didn’t hear through the fog of weed clouding their brains; or maybe it’s because they’re French. A fellow sleeper got up a couple of minutes later and went out there to tell them to shut the fuck up. Which they did. It was totally unfair, though: while these dudes went to bed and straight to sleep, the four original sleepers were now wide awake and it took us some time to get back to sleep.

Okay, rant over.

So today, Saturday, was the last day of Brisbane Festival and they had announced fireworks on the river as the big finale. When I left the hostel and had only been walking for a couple of minutes, I was able to see the first part of their show: fighter jet fly-by. Two Super Hornets circled around the skyline several times. On the one hand, it makes me a bit anxious to see any kind of plane that close to a skyscraper. But on the other hand, I’ve always been fascinated by military jets and helicopters. I know all the different types, and I would love to get a ride in any of them. Anyways, when the jets were gone, I followed the stream of people down to the river and found a nice spot on the quay. It was still 45 minutes until the actual “River Fire” was scheduled to begin, but they brought out another cool little treat. Another fly-by, this time by Apaches and Black Hawks (helicopters, for those who didn’t watch the movie). And they didn’t just fly past us once but showed off a little, hovering low over the water and under the bridge, close to the buildings, and even doing some stunts while flying. It’s weird how I’m completely against real life war but still love these machines. The firework started with a big bang by a single rocket and then the Hornets came back for a super low pass in the dark, throwing light marker thingies which was the signal for the fireworks to start. The spectacle went on for almost an hour and was beautiful. I haven’t been to a big official, professional firework in some time, so it was extra special. I particularly liked all the stuff they shot off and around the bridge. There were some sensational effects. It was perfectly timed as well. It was a full moon, which added to the whole atmosphere. And it started to rain only minutes after the firework was done.