Watch: Auckland and Sydney first major cities to ring in 2024

Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and on the Harbour Bridge as part if New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)

Sydney and Auckland have become the world’s first major cities to ring in 2024, with huge crowds of revellers cheering spectacular firework displays that lit up the skies over Sydney Harbour and New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower.

As the clock struck midnight in Australia’s largest city, tons of explosives erupted in a 12-minute display that focused on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.