Australia & New Zealand Welcome 2019 With A Bang

Australia and New Zealand have both welcomed the arrival of 2019 in fine style with displays of fireworks watched by millions of people.

Brits still have hours to wait until festivities begin, but millions of people Down Under are already celebrating the arrival of the new year after clocks ticked past midnight.

Revellers celebrated in Sydney and in Auckland, New Zealand. Among the first to bring in the New Year were people in Samoa. It became 2019 there at around 10am UK time.

But thousands of people waiting to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks around Sydney harbour were battered by torrential rain as a thunderstorm swept the city hours before midnight.

The New Year's firework display from the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand, was among the first displays at a major city marking the beginning of 2019.