As a spectacular New Year fireworks display lit up the Sydney sky at midnight, a giant typo was beamed onto a Harbour Bridge pylon, telling the crowd it was still 2018.
happy new year apparently it's still 2018 here in sydney ✨ pic.twitter.com/laLXA4vo89
— michelle (@michvllv) December 31, 2018
An estimated 1 million people braved stormy conditions in Sydney to catch a glimpse of the show, which was expected to be watched by more than a billion people around the world.
City of Sydney's Anna McInerney oversaw the planning of the fireworks and said she saw the funny side of the mistake.
"We just laughed about it, you know these things happen as we said, it takes 15 months to organise an event of this size and scale," she said.
"Obviously we weren't pleased but look you move on, you just get back to doing the show, wrapping things up and making sure all of the logistics and operations that have to happen after the show happen as flawlessly as they need to."
Oh no it’s 2018 again #typo https://t.co/G0TxI5yb7d pic.twitter.com/nst10Eb2ru
— Izzy Erskine (@izzyerskine) December 31, 2018
People took to social media to highlight the gaffe.
"Oh, will this horrible year never end?" one Twitter user asked.
"Were they playing 'If I could turn back time'?" said another, in reference to the iconic song by Cher.
Other users dubbed it Groundhog Day and dreaded the prospect of having to relive 2018.
Sydney Harbour lit up with 8.5 tonnes of fireworks as the clock ticked over to midnight, with thousands sticking out an evening downpour to secure prime vantage points for the spectacle.
The wet weather left its mark on celebrations with more than 8mm of rain falling in the CBD, mostly in the evening.
- ABC
