Opening Ceremony

I did not need to work. I was offered to watch it in the control room, but I figured I needed to be up early for the triathlon the next day, so went to the large screen at the local church… Great. Had lunch at Sydney Olympic Park that day, and it had a feel about it… Great time.

Anti-Aircraft Fire ——————

During the opening ceremony we had a helicopter over the stadium for the lighting of the cauldron. This was delayed of course – but they started playing the music that was supposed to start about the time that the cauldron got to the top… But was still down low…

Our helo had instructions to get out of the immediate area as soon as it was up – and so it waited until this happened… or tried to. It was not this easy! You see the people with the fireworks started them cued to the music and not to the vision. And so our helo was in the local area during the fireworks.

Now, there fireworks are like artillery shells, going up and then exploding… just like in war time… And this is what happened… Our helicopter was in the middle of the fireworks… EEK… Lets just say they got out of there quick smart.