Currently in Sydney, there's at least one fireworks display every weekend—usually several, often happening simultaneously across different parts of the city. One of these takes place every Saturday at 9 PM in Darling Harbour, just a 15-minute walk from my apartment. On Saturday, November 24th, I was heading there again to practice taking photos for New Year's Eve. When I arrived, there were already many people gathered, even though the fireworks were still hours away.

Suddenly, a choir behind me started singing Christmas carols, and I remembered that in Sydney, exactly one month before Christmas, they ceremoniously illuminate the large Christmas tree. I promptly found a good spot to watch the show. Over time, it naturally became more and more crowded—definitely not something my dad would enjoy. Around 8 PM, the entire show finally began with a water-skiing Santa.

This was followed by a parade of Santas and Christmas women singing carols as they moved around the square. Then the real show in the harbor basin began. Several large sailing vessels cruised around, interspersed with Santas in speedboats or performing formations on water skis.

Among them were pontoons with enormous Russian nesting dolls and a Christmas present as large as a small house. There were also two dragon boats fully occupied by Santas. I should mention that all of this was taking place in a harbor basin that's at most the size of Hamburg's Binnenalster—if not smaller. To make matters more challenging, the fireworks were set up right in the center of the harbor basin, forcing all the boats to navigate around them.

The "main" Santa for the day arrived in a small Australian military boat. He boarded the pontoon with the gift and disappeared behind it. A few minutes later, he appeared hovering above the water behind the pontoon and, using a water-powered jetpack, flew once around the square before pressing a button at a specific spot to switch on the large Christmas tree.

The whole spectacle was accompanied by a small but impressive fireworks display. Unfortunately, at some point during the evening, a huge inflatable Santa was positioned in front of my camera lens, wobbling through my frame and occasionally ruining some of my shots.

At one point, everyone at the square had to remain perfectly still for 10 seconds so that a massive panoramic photo could be taken.

It was a really wonderful evening and a fantastic show. Thank you!