Brisbane has an annual fireworks display called Riverfire. It's a huge display with 6 floating barges on the river launching fireworks synchronised to music played on one of the local radio stations, and more fireworks hanging off every bridge and a lot of the tall buildings in the CBD. Something like 65,000 separate fireworks are launched over the time of the display. This takes place in early September and attracts huge crowds - I rode past at 10am this year & there were people staking out prime areas for the display at 7pm that night 
There is a fair degree of ingenuity in some spots, with hammocks strung from poles, tarpaulins covering picnic spots and beer filled eskies. Other people simply set up camp chairs and sit there from early in the morning until early evening. It was a squally wet day this year so that can't have been much fun. We normally get the bus down to the river for Riverfire but this year we decided we'd stay home and watch it from the balcony.
The display starts with two Royal Australian Air Force F-111s doing a 'dump & burn'. This is the air force equivalent of doing do-nuts in a ute in the carpark. The F-111 comes in low & fast, pulls up, dumps fuel and ignites its afterburners. This creates an awesome tail of flame that lights up the sky as the plane climbs.
Dodgy picture - better to watch this or look up 'dump & burn' on you-tube. It's apparently a specialisation of the Australian Air Force and one that won't be repeated as the planes are being replaced this year. It's a thrilling thing to watch in person - the plane can come in so low that you flinch from the light & feel the heat of the burn before you hear the plane roaring over your head.
Once the planes have done their stuff the fireworks kick off. The firework display is literally 25 minutes long - long enough for you to get excited about it, get a bit bored, grab a fresh beer and then get exited all over again. The entire city lights up, and although I have no decent pictures from this year the web can supply plenty of examples like this
The display ends with another dump & burn. This year there were two at the end - although I know these things are meticulously choreographed I still like to think that the pilots thought 'yeah - what the hell, we've got enough fuel. Let's just do it one more time'.
There's also plenty of video out there , but the best thing to do is come & check it out next year. Bring your own chair & be sure to get there early...
There is a fair degree of ingenuity in some spots, with hammocks strung from poles, tarpaulins covering picnic spots and beer filled eskies. Other people simply set up camp chairs and sit there from early in the morning until early evening. It was a squally wet day this year so that can't have been much fun. We normally get the bus down to the river for Riverfire but this year we decided we'd stay home and watch it from the balcony. The display starts with two Royal Australian Air Force F-111s doing a 'dump & burn'. This is the air force equivalent of doing do-nuts in a ute in the carpark. The F-111 comes in low & fast, pulls up, dumps fuel and ignites its afterburners. This creates an awesome tail of flame that lights up the sky as the plane climbs.
Dodgy picture - better to watch this or look up 'dump & burn' on you-tube. It's apparently a specialisation of the Australian Air Force and one that won't be repeated as the planes are being replaced this year. It's a thrilling thing to watch in person - the plane can come in so low that you flinch from the light & feel the heat of the burn before you hear the plane roaring over your head.Once the planes have done their stuff the fireworks kick off. The firework display is literally 25 minutes long - long enough for you to get excited about it, get a bit bored, grab a fresh beer and then get exited all over again. The entire city lights up, and although I have no decent pictures from this year the web can supply plenty of examples like this
The display ends with another dump & burn. This year there were two at the end - although I know these things are meticulously choreographed I still like to think that the pilots thought 'yeah - what the hell, we've got enough fuel. Let's just do it one more time'.
There's also plenty of video out there , but the best thing to do is come & check it out next year. Bring your own chair & be sure to get there early...
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