Watch the Sydney skyline light up as Australia rings in the new year.
- Crowds surge into Sydney to watch fireworks spectacular
- Large crowds gather in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide
- Barbies sizzle, fireworks dazzle and bubbly flows to ring in 2013
THE new year is here. The smoke is clearing. The bubbly has flowed. The traffic queues are growing. But the memories will be spectacular.
City skylines exploded in gold, pink, green and blue around the nation as midnight ticked over.
That's what the crowds came for - as well as the barbies, the beer and the besties.
The party that starts the world's New Year celebrations didn't disappoint yet again.
As one of the first major cities in the world to welcome in 2013, Sydney has set the standard. Just ask the millions who watched the spectacular display both in person and on the television.
On a warm summer night, an estimated 1.5 million people poured into the city to watch the $6.6 million fireworks display light up the sky - twice - from the harbour foreshore, at Darling Harbour and other vantage points with the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge playing a major part.
Midnight fireworks on New Years Eve at the Opera House. PIcture Attila Szilvasi
Pop princess Kylie Minogue, the event's creative ambassador who chose the theme of Embrace for the celebrations, started the midnight show with the press of a button.
A giant set of red lips in the middle of the harbour bridge counted down to midnight, before the fireworks set off.
A one-of-a-kind sparkling semiquaver - to honour Kylie's 25 years in music - was one of 100,000 individual pyrotechnic creations this year, including brand new koala, octopus and hand images up in lights.
Sydney's skyline exploded in gold, pink, green and blue first at 9pm for the family-oriented curtain raiser and again at midnight.
Colours streamed from four barges situated around the harbour, with gold flashes cascading like tinsel as a gold butterfly-like design lit up the bridge.
New Years Eve midnight fireworks at Dawes Point. Picture: Cameron. Mitch
Gallery: New Year's Eve around Australia.
Gallery: Melbourne's CBC celebrations.
Gallery: Sydney's New Year celebrations
Gallery: New Year's Eve around the world
Gallery: South Australia's Happy New Year.
New years eve fire works in Melbourne. Picture: Glenn Daniels
"It was all great, amazing," said Lee Whittaker, from Denistone, who brought her kids Mel and Leon with her.
Across the rest of the country, other major cities hosted their own fireworks displays and parties.
Melbourne reached out and grabbed 2013 with hands and feet, as fireworks shaped like digits lit up the skyline in the southern capital.
An estimated 550,000 flooded into the CBD to witness the fireworks display, a 10-minute spectacular that flooded the sky with colour, featuring some unique explosions in the shape of human hands and feet.
The city's tallest buildings were used as launch sites, lighting the entire skyline to the delight of crowds gathered at the Docklands, Federation Square and at Treasury and Flagstaff Gardens.
Pop princess Kylie Minogue started the midnight show in Sydney with the press of a button.
Earlier on New Year's Eve, the city's family-friendly display at Yarra Gardens played host to about 60,000 people as the imposing backdrop of the MCG was showered with silver, gold and red.
Organisers said those gathered were very well behaved.
Robyn Smith, of Gisborne, northwest of Melbourne, said she had brought her two children to the city for the past three years.
"We just love it - it's just such a great party atmosphere," she said.
"I think the fireworks bring out the little kid in everyone."
New Years Eve at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Sydney Picture: Stephen Cooper
Irish sisters Emma and Sophie O'Dowd said they couldn't resist the lure of the New Year's lights and sounds, stopping at Yarra Park to see the fireworks on their way to a dance party.
"It's what it's all about. What a beautiful stage you've got here," Sophie, 22, said.
Surfers Paradise hosted one of Queensland's biggest New Year's Eve fireworks displays, with thousands catching a preview at the 9pm (AEST) show.
Organisers went with a superheroes theme for this year's family party, hoping to encourage children to attend as their favourite superhero and several little Spidermen and Supermen could be seen among the crowd.
In Brisbane, crowds were slightly down at South Bank, but there was still plenty of cheer as revellers waited to welcome in midnight.
Melbourne New Years Eve. Picture: Town Jay
We've been working on a few surprises," Skylighter Fireworks director Max Brunner told Brisbanetimes.com.
"All I can say is that this year will be the biggest display a Brisbane New Year's Eve has ever had."
Hobart hosted thousands in town for the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and Tasmania's biggest event, The Taste Festival near Salamanca Place.
The event was one of several held up and down the Gold Coast while other centres in Queensland also lit up with their family-friendly displays.
The Sunshine Coast has seen its largest influx of tourists in seven years. More than 50,000 attended alcohol-free events at Mooloolaba and Caloundra's Kings Beach in the late afternoon.
The spectacular midnight fireworks display from Potts Point overlooking the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Picture: Toby Zerna
Thousands of revellers took in the 9pm (AEST) show, a precursor to the main event at midnight.
Gallery: Phillip Island Holiday Fun
Gallery: Lorne looks to New Year
Perth is partying through a heatwave, while Adelaide tried to encourage less alcohol and more family-friendly events.
South Australia's Moana and Christies beaches were closed late in the afternoon after a 2.5m shark was spotted in shallow waters and only 100m offshore. Families attending the Elder Park fireworks display in the city were treated to a more serene atmosphere.
City of Melbourne New Year's Eve celebrations. Stefan Anguerre,19, and Eden Gobel, 18, watch the fireworks for the first time. Picture: Walmsley Stuart
But Sydney's celebration remained the centre of attention for its spectacle and size.
Sydneysiders have paid homage to Australia's princess of pop as they ushered in the New Year with sparkle, glam and a little bit of cheek.
Sydney: Millions embrace Kylie's NYE.
Melbourne: Fireworks explode across the sky
Sydney: A ship-shape view of NYE fireworks
NEWS- Colour from the New Year's Eve celebrations at Broadbeach. Crowds gather on the beach to watch the fireworks. Picture: Luke Marsden
Adelaide: It's party time, and here's how.
Sydney: New Year's heartbreak on the harbour.
2012 was farewelled in a cascade of pink and gold as hit tunes from Kylie Minogue's 25 years in show business bounced around the packed harbour foreshore.
As the the event's creative ambassador, the diminutive pop star developed the theme Embrace and chose its colour scheme and soundtrack.
"It's just overwhelming, it was so beautiful," said Amanda Wormleaton from Belmore.
. Revellers wait on the outbound platform at Jolimont Station after the 9.30pm Yarra Park fireworks. Picture: Walmsley Stuart
"It was the best fireworks Sydney has ever had."
John Priest, who made the trip from Adelaide, agreed.
"It's the best I've seen," he said.
A musical-note firework pulsed on the bridge in Minogue's honour, one of 100,000 individual pyrotechnic creations.
"It's been a huge year for me and the finish line is tonight," Minogue said, adding that her Spanish boyfriend was the first in line for a hug come midnight.
Fireworks at Southbank. Picture: Smithadam
"I love the concept of embrace. It can mean so many different things," she added.
Minogue, who wore a short Asian-inspired blue and white dress for the 9pm fireworks, said despite ups and downs her career had been "an amazing ride".
She later turned up at the lord mayor's party at the Opera House in a slinky long silver gown.
"How's everyone feeling," she asked, as she pressed a button to trigger the midnight display, which opened with a large pair of red lips making the official countdown on the bridge.
Other celebs who have headed Down Under to ring in the New Year include Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx and Jonah Hill.
New Years Eve at Surfers Paradise. Photo of the 9pm fireworks. Picture: Gosling Richard
They will be joined at The Star casino's Marquee Nightclub by Gossip Girl heart throb Chace Crawford, Glee's Matthew Morrison and Arrow actor Colton Haynes.
The midnight fireworks kick off New Year's celebrations the world over.
Under balmy and clear skies, tens of thousands of revellers lined Darling Harbour and other viewing hotspots, including about 1.5 million along the harbour foreshore.
As streams of incandescent colour shot into the heavens, families on picnic blankets cheered and clapped along with others aboard luxury yachts.
"It's a much younger crowd than usual, a lot of backpackers rather than families like previous years," said Karla Davies from the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust.
City of Melbourne New Year's Eve celebrations 2012. Tye, 8, and Erik, 8, check out the fireworks in Yarra Park. Picture: Walmsley Stuart
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said about 1.5 million spectators were expected to line Sydney Harbour to watch the fireworks.
Another two million Australians will catch the $6.6 million event on television, as will at least one billion people worldwide.
"This is really putting Australia on the map in terms of welcoming people to the new year," Ms Moore said.
Emil, 21, said he would return to his home country of Sweden a happy man.
"The huge lips on the bridge, that was worth the wait," he said from Lady Macquarie's Chair, where about 17,000 people gathered.
New Years Eve at Surfers Paradise. Photo of Kevin Griffiths, Billy Griffiths, 9. Picture: Gosling Richard
"I can go back to Sweden very happy. We just met some French girls three minutes ago so the night is getting even better."
Caroline, 24, from Melbourne, said it was worth the overnight camp to get the perfect vantage spot.
"We were here at midnight last night and stayed on the grass, I don't know whether that was legal," she said.
"But tonight I am going home with a friend, one night sleeping rough was enough."
Myanmar (Burma) will ring in the new year with its first public countdown and a grand fireworks display in a celebration unprecedented in the former military-ruled country.
It's the latest, and perhaps most colourful, example of the country's emergence from decades of isolation.
Thousands were expected to attend the event at a large field in Yangon (Rangoon) with a backdrop of the famed Shwedagon Pagoda, where the Myanmar public will get its chance to do what much of the world does every December 31.
Singers, celebrities, light shows and other festivities were planned for the public party, which would have been unthinkable under the former military regime that banned public gatherings.
Remember, New Year's is not enjoyed by all.
The RSPCA urged pet owners to ensure their pets are safe and secure because they startle easily by fireworks. Dogs and horses are the most at risk, but even cats, rabbits, birds and cattle can be harmed.
"Many of the calls that we receive come from people who are reporting animals that have escaped during fireworks displays or injured themselves trying to escape," RSPCA Chief Inspector David O'Shannessy said.
Owners should ensure their pets are kept indoors and are well exercised and fed before fireworks start.
Leaving TVs or radios on to mask the sound of fireworks can also help and owners should ensure their pets are wearing ID tags and their microchip details are up-to-date in case they do run away.
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