Vivid Sydney is a time when imagination literally shines bright. The city was filled with colorful displays both inside and outside of the buildings.
Events were happening around the city during our entire stay. Our hotel was in the CBD and we easily walked to see the lights at Circular Quay, the Rocks, Opera House, Museum of Contemporary Arts and Royal Botanical Garden. We joined our friend Penny and her family to the see Vivid at the Taronga Zoo.
Penny was super helpful and generous with her time. She took us to her home and we met her daughter’s budgerigars and the family’s Great Dane Vader.
We met Penny on the Milford Track so it was extra fun to hike the Spit to Manly track together. The weather said mid-sixties and sunny. We saw clouds rolling in and Ian got a weather alert. It quickly turned cold and rainy for a bit of time. It was sunny again when we returned on the Manly ferry.
We walked everywhere and the Harbour Bridge or Opera House were often in the distance.
Wendy’s Whiteley’s Secret Garden is not really a secret. The garden hides in the parklands of Lavender Bay (part of Sydney Harbour). There are no sign posts but it is obvious when you arrive. There was a couple taking wedding photos in front of a massive Moreton Bay fig tree and others enjoying lunch at the tables dotted throughout the garden. This is a place we would visit often if we lived in Sydney.
We walked across the Harbour Bridge and we climbed over the bridge. The Bridge Climb appeared challenging, but was actually not too forbidding. We got dressed in blue/grey suits with clips on everywhere. There were many safety precautions and checks including a sobriety test and metal detector (Sunshine had to remove a small barrette). The climb seemed more difficult when looking at the bridge. Harnessed into a safety wire, we walked along a catwalk and climbed a total 1332 stairs to enjoy 360 degree views of the city during twilight. No cameras or phones were allowed so we purchased one of the photos of us and also included one sunset photo of the bridge from our hotel.
We walked past the Opera House many times before taking the tour. Jorn Utzon’s design was ultimately selected out of the 233 designs submitted in an international competition after it was initially placed in the reject pile. The four year project was estimated to cost $7 million. It took 14 years and $102 million. The building has been added to the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites and more than 10 million people visited the site every year. All of the shows were sold while we visited.
We walked through the Royal Botanical Garden both at night (for Vivid) and during the day. Unique and different was the “Plants with Bite” exhibition. It was a small and fascinating collection of carnivorous plants. Can you find the fly?
We visited three museums: the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Museum of NSW and the Justice and Police Museum. The Contemporary Art had a few interesting pieces but many that neither of us connected with. The Museum of NSW was a free evening event with curators, music and more. We did a short guided mediation on a cloud-like piece made of crystal serving wear. We wondered the permanent collection and listened to Andrew Bukenya and his band play tribute to Spike Lee. The Justice and Police Museum was surprisingly brilliant. The photographer took portraits rather than classic mug shots and many of the crime scene photos looked like street photography (with grim descriptions of the crimes). This museum is only open on the weekend and definitely worth visiting.
