Fireworks displays in New Zealand and Australia kick off 2026 celebrations

Auckland has become the first major city to ring in 2026 with a fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, the Sky Tower.

It was followed by a defiant celebration in Australia in the aftermath of a mass shooting in the country.

South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball drops in New York’s Times Square.

The five-minute display in Auckland involved 3,500 fireworks launched from various floors of the 787ft Sky Tower.

Smaller community events were cancelled across New Zealand’s North Island due to forecasts of rain and possible thunderstorms.

Australia’s east coast welcomed 2026 two hours after New Zealand but in Sydney, the country’s largest city, celebrations were held under the pall of Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years.

Two gunmen targeted a Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 and wounding 40.

A heavy police presence monitored the thousands who thronged to the downtown waterfront on Wednesday to watch a dazzling fireworks show centred on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Many officers openly carried rapid-fire rifles, in a first for the annual event.

An hour before midnight, the massacre victims were commemorated with a minute’s silence as people held candles and switched on their phone flashlights while images were projected on the bridge pylons. The crowd was invited to show their solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community.

New South Wales premier Chris Minns urged Sydney residents not to stay away through fear, saying extremists would interpret smaller crowds at New Year’s Eve festivities as a victory.

“We can’t be in a situation where this horrible, criminal, terrorist event changes the way we live in our beautiful city,” Mr Minns told reporters on Wednesday.

Hong Kong was ringing in 2026 without the usual spectacle over the famous Victoria Harbour after a massive fire in November killed at least 161 people. The facades of landmarks turned into countdown clocks presenting a light show at midnight.

In Japan, temple bells rang across the country and some people climbed mountains to see the year’s first sunrise.

Others were eating noodles in a traditional wish for long life because of the noodle’s shape.

In South Korea’s capital, Seoul, a bell tolling was held at the Bosingak Pavilion.

Drummers pounded in the new year and a stampede of computer-generated horses was shown over a section of the Great Wall as China marked the start of 2026.

At the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV closed out 2025 with a prayer that the city of Rome might be a welcoming place for foreigners and fragile people, young and old.

Leo presided over a New Year’s Eve service at St Peter’s Basilica.