A Disappointing Closing Ceremony

Due to the excitements of the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony just over a week ago Melburnians were expecting another incredible night at the Closing Ceremony.

Thousands flocked to the Yarra River to grab a spot on the banks to get a front seat view of the Ceremony, we did too! Worried that there might not be any spot left we got there really early at 4.30 in the afternoon! We found a good spot by the Yarra and set up camp, claiming our territory! Yippie!

It was a rather long wait, my friends and us took turn guarding our camp while the others go wondered about at the festival which was still going on. By 8 o'clock when it was dark and the Ceremony started inside the MCG we were greeted by the very well known lightshow with the fountain fish on the water. The only thing was they took away all the big screens from the banks of the river so we couldn't watch the ceremony that was going on inside the MCG! There were big screens at other places like the Alexandra Gardens and Federation Square but we wanted to have a front row seat view of the fireworks later. We decided to stay put and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited...it was such a long night! Why or why did they take away the big screens! What a major disappointment! The fireworks won't be starting until 10.00 pm!

We did get to see a bit of fireworks coming from the MCG every now and then but that was just parts of the show from the Ceremony inside the MCG which we didn't even get to watch! They told us to watch it at the other venues but then we would lose our spot on the river bank and if I wanted to watch it on the big screen which was like watching TV, I might as well watch it on TV in the comfort of my home! Damn the organiser! Why take off the screens on the banks!

Finally after 10.00 pm when the Ceremony inside the MCG finished we finally got to see the fireworks. It was as expected, there were coming from the MCG, from the fish on the river and from the building in the background. It was a magnificent display of fireworks! Only after 5 1/2 hours!

These are just some of the fireworks photos I took using my Sony Cybershot DSCP-10 using nightshot mode but only a couple came out good because you're supposed to use a tripod for these shots that requires longer exposure, handheld is never steady.


Well do I think it was worth the wait for a few minutes of fireworks? Probably not, the thing that ruined the night was the missing screens. We were left with nothing to do before the fireworks but wait and wait..what a disappointing night but the fireworks was good though. Watch the short video clip of the fireworks below.