Canberrans picnicked on the lawns of Lake Burley Griffin to watch New Year's Eve fireworks on Friday night, masked up and happy to be outside in the balmy air.
Couples held hands. Teenagers zoomed around on e-scooters and parents wrangled excited toddlers out way past bedtime as they waited for the 9pm bang.
It's a New Year custom to choose a resolution for the year ahead, but Cameron Caffell put it best when he said his only plan for 2022 was to "live life to the full."
There was a sense territorians had been burnt last year, having lofty goals promptly cancelled by various strains of a certain virus.
Andrew Cameron said he had just recovered from a mild case of Delta, having only been out of quarantine since just before Christmas.
He said he headed to the fireworks spontaneously, hoping the outdoors and social distancing would keep him away from Omicron.
"It's just so hard at the moment trying to get solid plans, so we just thought this was a somewhat COVID-safe event," he said.
"It's a bit difficult to make goals and stuff [at the moment]. I'm really shocked that it's the end of 2021 already, it doesn't really feel like it."
Mr Caffell and Casey Youngberry were in Canberra visiting family from the Central Coast. They had arrived earlier on Friday, and were also just happy to be outside in the warm weather.
Ms Youngberry said her plan for 2022 was to take "each day as it comes".
The pair were hoping to go on some camping trips around NSW, and said they wanted to enjoy each day the best they could.
Both were sitting on comfy camping chairs, holding cold drinks, wearing Happy New Year crowns and enjoying the company of family - showing it's never too early to start living your goal.
If anyone needed a lesson in enjoying the moment, they only needed to hear the children's screams of delight as they watched the early bangs of exploding fireworks.
Gasps and claps accompanied each burst of colour, with extra noise reserved for the larger works.
The applause at the end of the 20-minute display was even louder than the fireworks themselves.
Little and big hands clapping together, whoops and cheers to celebrate the end of 2021.
And rather than rush back to their cars and beds, this year it seemed Canberrans lingered at the lake just a little bit longer.
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