Watch: Spectacular fireworks light up New Zealand and Australia as 2026 begins

As the world is edging towards midnight, New Zealand and Australia once again led the countdown, welcoming 2026 with fireworks, reflection, and resilience.New Zealand’s Auckland became the first major city to usher in 2026, lighting up the sky with a fireworks display launched from the Sky Tower, the country’s tallest structure.Despite wet weather in the city centre, the celebration went ahead as planned. The five-minute show featured around 3,500 fireworks fired from multiple levels of the 240-metre (787-foot) Sky Tower, creating a dramatic vertical spectacle above the skyline.

Countries across the South Pacific are always the earliest to welcome the new year, and Auckland, home to about 1.7 million people, reached midnight a full 18 hours before New York’s Times Square.Not everything went smoothly across the country. Several smaller community celebrations on New Zealand’s North Island were cancelled after forecasts warned of rain and possible thunderstorms.Two hours after Auckland, Australia’s east coast marked the start of 2026, with Sydney pressing ahead with its iconic New Year’s Eve celebrations under heightened security.The festivities came just weeks after the country’s deadliest mass shooting in nearly 30 years.

On December 14, two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah gathering at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people and injuring at least 40. The attack cast a sombre shadow over celebrations in Australia’s largest city.Even so, thousands gathered along Sydney’s waterfront on Wednesday evening to watch the annual fireworks display centred on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Police presence was visibly stronger than in previous years, with many officers openly carrying rapid-fire rifles, a first for the event.An hour before the new year, organisers planned a minute’s silence to honour the victims of the Bondi Beach attack. Images of a menorah were set to be projected onto the bridge pylons, and people were invited to show solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community by switching on their phone torches across the harbour.New South Wales Premier Chris Minns urged residents not to stay away from public events out of fear, warning that doing so would hand extremists a symbolic victory.“We can’t be in a situation where this horrible, criminal, terrorist event changes the way we live in our beautiful city,” Minns told reporters.“We have to show defiance in the face of this terrible crime and say that we’re not going to be cowered by this kind of terrorism.”As fireworks burst over Auckland and Sydney, the message from both cities was clear, the new year would begin not just with spectacle, but with resolve.