New Year celebrations begin in South Pacific

Samoa and Tokelau ahead with New Year celebrations but New Zealand and Australia followed suit with fireworks displays.

31 December 2011, 12:00am

1 min read

Firework display in Auckland New Zealand have already started as countries enter 2012

Two South Pacific island nations were the first to celebrate entering into 2012 after skipping a day ahead after relocating west across the international dateline.

Missing out completely on 30 December, Samoa and Tokelau skipped forward from 29 December to 31 December as soon as the clock struck midnight.

The decision to make the move across the timeline was announced in May to improve relations with trade partners Australia and New Zealand.

Celebrations in New Zealand will largely be taking place indoors due to bad weather but a fireworks display started off Auckland’s Sky Tower at midnight (12:00pm local time).

Sydney will shortly be kicking of New Year’s Eve celebrations with a million dollar fireworks display.