Robot Claw

Did some more shopping and exploring the city:

Before taking a break for packing and eating ‘chicken for babies’ for lunch:

And then in the evening I went out to see the rest of Vivid:

That’s a tiny model; the umbrella was maybe an inch wide. It was part of a series of detailed models in boxes that all used light creatively.

Central Station was spectacular. It’s a massive building and the projection was extremely colourful and very crisp. It animated through various scenes and didn’t repeat in the several minutes I watched.

I also visited The Convergence, which was at the end of a dead-end street. There was a long line when I arrived and since it said the wait was 15 minutes I joined it and amused myself by watching the slow motion projection of a dancers feet that was on a nearby building.

But the 15 minute wait got longer and longer and it wasn’t until almost an hour later than I entered the installation, which was a long tunnel full of lasers and smoke.

It was mildly insane, and at times dazzling, but so full of people I had to get creative to take photos. At the very end the line turns but the tunnel cleverly seemed to continue into infinity:

It was like being in a mad hybrid of The Matrix and Frankie’s Relax music video and while not worth an hours wait was another of the best Vivid installations.

I think I ended up seeing at least 45 of the 47 official Vivid attractions, which means I got my moneys worth (it’s all free)! If I’m ever in Australia during Vivid again, I’ll absolutely make plans to be in Sydney because I think it was great 🙂

Returned to Sydney with Sue. I’ll head home in a few days but before then it was time to do more shopping and check out the majority of the Sydney Vivid festival.

We shopped around the Asian districts which get more impressive each time I visit. It feels like Chinatown, Koreatown and Japantown are a large chunk of Sydney now, and there’s lots of shops selling nifty stuff that I’ll need to take a second look in before I go. It’s a shame I’m not more adventurous with food, because the wealth of different restaurants is amazing (should I get a pork katsu tonight?)!

Vivid was amazing. There were light displays everywhere, including spotlights that lit up the clouds! The bridge and the opera house were obviously centerpieces, and they didn’t disappoint.

All around Circular Quay and The Rocks there were installations, ranging from small and cute (like fake walk signals displaying emojis) to massively impressive (like multistory buildings with animations projected onto them). The crowds were massive as well, but well controlled and always moving so it was easy to see and enjoy everything.

All the light shows were animated. The bridge cycled through many colors (and video was projected onto the supports) and the opera house saw a dazzling display of colours and faux 3D effects projected onto it. Virtually everywhere you looked there was something to see, and even the skyscrapers were lit up in a rainbow of colours.

You could go walk up to many of the installations (like this mega music visualizer cube) and most of them incorporated sound or music as well.

A couple made use of the harbour itself, like these ‘soap by bubbles’ or several ships going back and forth advertising the event.

We walked for several hours from the Opera House all the way to Darling Harbour and still probably didn’t see everything. I’ll probably go out again tonight to see the offerings down at Central Station.

By the way, although I’d never think it or even admit it, it’s possible all this activity (another near 30k steps yesterday) is catching up to me. As usual I’ll need a vacation to recover from this trip!

That’s a lookout overlooking Burwood Beach. It’s also a launching point from which maniacs jump off with hang gliders. Today Sue and I set out from here and walked down to the beach at Glenrock Lagoon. That’s at the horizon in the photo, closer than it seems in the panorama but still a good walk including some tricky drops and climbs.

It was a lovely walk, with beautiful weather and lots of birds. I chatted endlessly like a madman and Sue laughed at my jokes, which is also fun 🙂

After lunch (maccas of course) we went and played…

Mini golf!!! The (indoor) course was like nothing I’d ever seen in America, and every hole had a theme. Above is obviously The Simpsons, but there was also this pool table one where you launch the ball from a pinball machine:

And this Nintendo one that incorporated Tetris!

Sue claimed she was an amateur, but scored a hole-in-one on her very first ball and then effortlessly won 15 of the 18 holes! The final score of all holes was her 55 to my 77+, although 15 of hers and 30+ of mine were on the last (incredibly difficult) Game Of Thrones hole. My defeat was near absolute 🙂

Next time I’m in town our rematch will be bowling!