“Life In The So-Called Space Age”
In a few minutes I’ll board that plane and fly to Japan. I’m very exhausted after this past fortnight but I’ve got 10 flying hours to relax and that should be enough to raise my stamina to 200%!
What will I see and do in Japan? Watch this space to find out…
I walked down to Circular Quay and arrived about 15 minutes before the lights went on. Finally I could see some stars! The above shows the bridge before the lights…
And there it is after they flipped the switch. The lights were very bright and vibrant this year, and the bridge looked magnificent.
The crowds were thick and very excited, but my limiters are half-removed and I weaved through the throng effortlessly. I quickly ducked around the quay to see the Opera House from the other side:
You can see the projector beam, which seemed to originate from next to the bridge. The spotlights are cool as they scan the sky and I overheard a woman saying when she flew into Sydney a few days ago they could see them from above the clouds.
The rest of this post will just be a gallery of various installations, at Martin Place and Darling Harbour. This isn’t all I saw, and most of these are animated or interactive as well. There was a lot to see, and I believe this may be the biggest Vivid I’ve seen yet.
On this last pic, fire was clearly a theme this year. I saw several fire installations, and places where you could cook over open fires. I believe there was a fire juggler as well in Darling Harbour, but the crowds were very dense and I was tired so I went back to the hotel.
All told I spent about three hours running around and estimate I only saw half the installations. It’s a great Vivid, much better than last year and possibly the best I’ve seen. I’m glad I was here to experience it.
Sue and I walked Stockton breakwater yesterday, on the north side of Newcastle harbour. This is the longer of the two by about 250 m, although some may suggest otherwise!
That’s the view across the harbour to Nobby’s. The brown water is runoff from the floods of last week, and debris is still washing down the Hunter. We’d been inland earlier in the day to visit an antique store and evidence on the floods was still very apparent, with fields resembling lakes near Morpeth!
I’ve walked Nobby’s breakwater countless times but the Stockton one much less and not for several years. It was very popular yesterday since the weather was nice and many fisherman lined the northern side casting into the ocean.
Many rocks bear memorials, some simple and some elaborate like this one which is engraved onto metal. I remember seeing them in the past, but there’s many more now. I suppose this is a Novocastrian tradition?
Mum and I said our goodbyes (for the 21st time I believe) and I’m now in Sydney preparing for a longish flight tomorrow. Vivid is on, and you can bet I’ll go take a gander after dark. If it’s good, I’ll blog it later tonight!