On Friday I organized an outing for my team to go to Vivid
Lights together. Angela didn’t want to go though as she had been there done
that already. So Neha, April, and I went. It was a lot of fun. We caught the
train after work and went to Town Hall. We then walked from Town Hall to
Darling Harbour. We took the foot bridge to the other side of Darling Harbour
to the Ferris Wheel. I had really wanted to go on the ferris wheel as it isn’t there
all the time and I knew it would provide good views. So we bought our tickets
which were only $8 and loaded in. April apparently is afraid of heights so she
was less than enthused but Neha and I made up for that. It was beautiful views!
I really liked it, can you tell? There was also a beautiful laser light show set to music by the Ferris wheel that I just found really nice too.
Laser show in Darling Harbour
Neha and April. I think you can guess who is who:)
After the ferris wheel we walked to Circular Quay where most
of the action was. We saw several light installations like a big lit up pig, a
round gazebo with lights, these weird atom looking things, and then we arrived
at the Contemporary Art Museum which was AMAZING! Lots of color, action, and
shapes moving all over the place. After that we went to look at the Opera House
from across Circular Quay. Surprisingly for me the Opera House was a bit of a
letdown. I guess I just thought it should be the star and it wasn’t by any
means. It was still interesting but not breathtaking. April decided to go home
at this time because she doesn’t like crowds. So at that point I dragged Neha
with me to stand in line for the cheesy photo frame picture. Lucky kid. Then we
went and looked at the lighted trees and up close at the aboriginal pictures on
the Harbour Bridge as we were in the Rocks by that point. Finally, we went and
stood mesmerized for like a half an hour at the Customs building across from
the train station which had dinosaurs, elves, fish, sharks, snails, jellyfish,
owls etc telling stories on its façade. At about 9:30pm we caught our train
home.
On Saturday I helped Rani as she was able to move in that
day. Her place is nice. The electricity hadn’t been turned on yet though so
that made things a wee bit difficult. She lives in Parramatta now which is nice
for her because it is closer to work. It would be a pain taking the train home
from work every night. Parramatta is quite large so she lives a hefty walk from
me, probably 25 minutes without using the free shuttle bus.
Sunday I went back to Luna Park to look around and then
caught the ferry to Circular Quay.
Catching the ferry meant that I didn’t have to hike back up the hill…let’s
pause while I pat myself on the back. Anyway I returned to the Opera House and
strolled around the Botanical Gardens some more. I am eventually going to make
it there to tour the Government House but I missed it by an hour that day. I
really am going to get there though. I
need to look around the Gardens more as they are really beautiful. I waited
around for Vivid to start and was able to catch a breathtaking sunset from the
Opera House.
Finally Vivid started and I think it was busier that night
than it was the other nights put together. I was able to see some installations
that I didn’t know were there as I hadn’t been on that side of the harbor for
the other nights. I saw a giant fish, three lighted people, a prism that was
lit up, and a walking robot! The robot was really cool as it was walking with
the crowd. I may have gotten a little geeked up about that. Then I stood across
the harbor to take videos of the art museum. Next to me were two teenage boys
that were trying to fish a skateboard out of the water. It was stuck on
something about 4 feet beneath the surface against the wall. They had jolly
rigged some golf clubs together and the one was over the fence leaning into the
water. That looked like a recipe for disaster and since I am a competent rather
than a confident swimmer (love you too mom) I decided to get out of there
before things went south. I didn’t want to have to go all Baywatch on them...
So anyway I have posted pictures and videos all over
everywhere. HERE ALSO It isn’t like being there first hand but at least it gives you an
idea of what it was like. I would like to come back every year just for that but
somehow I don’t think that will happen…I will say again that I was lucky to
come at a really good time.
Oh and someone had asked what the Vivid Festival is all
about so I did some research. Apparently it started off as a festival about
energy conservation if you can believe it. It includes musical performances and
innovative talks. It grew each and every year to become a huge event in Sydney
now. It runs for about 3 weeks and is free to attend. Also there are
installations all over the city, it’s just the biggest ones are at Circular
Quay. Now I think it is more art based as I wasn’t understanding the big pig???
Anyway it was so cool. I think part of the fascination I had with it was that this
cutting edge technology was being projected onto these historical buildings.
The imagery was fitted so well that it looked real like giant cockroaches were
running up down the buildings…and now off to bed.
