New Year's Eve celebrations begin in the Pacific (2)

Islands across the Pacific were the first to welcome in the New Year, with celebrations to mark the start of 2010 beginning in the tiny nation of Kiribati at 10am GMT, followed by the Chatham Islands, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia.

In Suva, the capital of Fiji, hundreds of people counted down the last 10 seconds of 2009 from Albert Park during the country’s annual New Year’s Eve Street Party.

In Auckland, as thousands poured onto the streets to ring in the New Year, police warned partygoers to “have fun by all means but obey the rules and everyone will have a good time”.

But well before the clock struck midnight, thousands of revellers gathered on Sydney harbour in order to save a spot with a good view of the annual Harbour Bridge fireworks.

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Updates:

4:34 pm EST, December 31st, 2009 — Revelers Met By Snow, Security In Times Square

Notes:

Happy New Year everyone. Stay safe this evening if you’re going out (I’m not).