--- ---  # Happy New Year from the South Pacific Where It's Already 2015 by [Conal Urquhart](https://time.com/author/conal-urquhart/) ## Conal Urquhart Dec 31, 2014 11:17 AM UTC  'Midnight Fireworks' explode above the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge on Jan. 1, 2015. 'Midnight Fireworks' explode above the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge on Jan. 1, 2015.Nikki Short—EPA by [Conal Urquhart](https://time.com/author/conal-urquhart/) ## Conal Urquhart Dec 31, 2014 11:17 AM UTC There are still several hours to go until large parts of the world celebrate the New Year but midnight has been and gone in the Pacific island of Kiribati, the first inhabited place in the world to enter 2015. > [](https://twitter.com/lauravruiz/status/550235102845079553) At about the same time, Samoa welcomes the New Year. Kiribati and Samoa are 19 hours ahead of New York. > [](https://twitter.com/CheriDouglas/status/550230300551155712) The first city to celebrate the advent of 2015 is Gisborne in New Zealand which is 18 hours ahead of New York. > [](https://twitter.com/mjayd76/status/550247331317039104) ### See Photos of the Times Square New Year's Ball Through History  Technicians eye the new improved New Years ball, with halogen lamps for greater visibility, in New York City in 1978. Chester Higgins Jr.—The New York Times/Redux  New York City Mayor Ed Koch gives the thumbs up sign as he flips a switch to test the Big Apple Ball on Dec. 24, 1981 in New York City. Marty Lederhandler—AP  Jason Samuels, an electrician with signmaker Artkraft Strauss, checks the connections on a lighted ball at the company's shop in New York City, Dec. 22, 1994. Jon Simon—AP  Times Square Business Improvement District President Brendan Sexton, left, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, second from left, actor and Chairman of New York City 2000 Ron Silver, right rear, and President of Countdown Entertainment Jeffrey A. Straus, right, make a toast at a press conference in New York City on, Dec. 28, 1998. Marty Lederhandler—AP  The New York Times Square Ball sits atop 1 Times Square during its test lighting in preparation for the Times Square 2000 celebration, Dec. 30, 1999. Timothy A. Clary—AFP/Getty Images  Peter Gravagna (L), Raymond Nieves (C) and Felix Ortega (R), of Landmark Signs, install light bulbs on the New Year's Eve Ball in New York City on Dec. 28, 2001. Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images  Workers test a giant 1,070-pound, six-foot diameter Waterford Crystal ball, in New York City on Dec. 30, 2003. Jeff Christensen—Reuters  A workman installs one of 72 new Waterford Crystal triangles, featuring the "Hope for Fellowship" design, on the exterior of the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball in New York City on Dec. 28, 2005. Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images  The New Year's Eve Ball is displayed at the Macy's Store in Herald Square before moving to Times Square for New Years celebrations, in New York City on Nov. 5, 2008. Jeff Zelevansky—Getty Images  The Waterford Crystal ball in place and ready for the New Year's celebration in New York City on Dec. 30, 2009. Ozier Muhammad—The New York Times/Redux  Fireworks explode as the Waterford crystal ball is raised at the beginning of Times Square New Year's celebration in New York City on Dec. 31, 2012. Mary Altaffer—AP  A view of the general atmosphere at the 2014 New Year's Eve Philips Ball Test at One Times Square in New York City on Dec. 30, 2013. Desiree Navarro—WireImage/Getty Imges New Year: Happy New Year from the South Pacific ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3650993/2015-new-year-south-pacific/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3650993/2015-new-year-south-pacific/"},"headline":"Happy New Year from the South Pacific Where It's Already 2015","datePublished":"2014-12-31T11:17:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:13.415Z","description":"It's already 2015 in Kiribati, Samoa and Gisborne, New Zealand","url":"https://time.com/3650993/2015-new-year-south-pacific/","keywords":["Newsfeed","2015"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74fcc2415eb71962/698777becd68487a34098de7/sydney-new-year-celebrations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Conal Urquhart","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/conal-urquhart/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74fcc2415eb71962/698777becd68487a34098de7/sydney-new-year-celebrations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"'Midnight Fireworks' explode above the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge on Jan. 1, 2015.","caption":"'Midnight Fireworks' explode above the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge on Jan. 1, 2015.","creditText":"Nikki Short—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3650993/2015-new-year-south-pacific/","name":"Happy New Year from the South Pacific Where It's Already 2015"}}]}] ```