Let there be light!
Vivid Sydney 2016 is a glorious explosion of light and colour across our city. We’ve deliberately avoided the high traffic areas of Circular Quay and the Royal Botanic Garden this year (so far), but there is still a great deal to explore in the other precincts.
On Wednesday night, I dragged the boys out to Central Park on Broadway to see X Factory – a light show projected onto the facade of the old brewery building. It was a lovely mild night and Central Park is full of great eateries – we had a fabulous meal at Ribs and Burgers.
A brief snippet of the animated projection…
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If you’re planning to visit, it’s easiest to park at the Broadway Sydney shopping centre. You’ll get two hours free parking, and it’s just a short walk from there to Central Park. Best of all, you’ll walk right past the magnificent UTS building, with its permanent funky lighting…
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For something completely different, book a free ticket to the Björk virtual reality show currently screening at Carriageworks. I haven’t loved VR in the past (being very short-sighted makes the headsets a bit tricky to use), but this one was amazing and incredibly immersive. For any fellow Trekkies out there, it’s how I imagined a holodeck experience to be. The show is in five parts, and you need to allow about an hour in total…
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Finally, if you’re only going to one Vivid event this year, I’d highly recommend Taronga Zoo. It’s spectacular. Taronga is celebrating its centenary this year, and this is the first time it’s been part of Vivid Sydney.
Bookings are needed and entry is limited to 5,000 people per night. Tickets are $18 each, but I think they’re worth every cent. If you’re booking online, try to get the ANZ Blue Pass tickets (they cost the same price as regular entry), as these will give you free access to the Sky Safari cable car as well. The ten minute round trip offers magnificent views of the city and the Harbour Bridge.
A web of fairy lights hung overhead as we queued for our ride…
The Zoo entrance is a perfect canvas for this colourful bespoke projection…
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The money raised from Vivid ticket sales will go towards the Zoo’s conservation projects. In keeping with that, there are ten large light sculptures of endangered animals, as well as other smaller ones. This echidna isn’t endangered, but it is quintessentially Australian…
Most of the sculptures having moving parts – the echidna’s tongue flicks in and out towards the ant, and these large marine turtles wave their flippers as if they’re swimming through the darkness…
As you start down the trail, green lights pulse, turning the surrounding foliage into an explosion of light and movement. It’s as if the greenery is filled with a million fireflies. I was completely entranced by this tree…Pete and Small Man both had an Avatar moment, agreeing that this is what the Pandora Forest at night might have looked like…
Here’s a short video of the firefly effect…
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Clusters of cicadas were positioned on trees adjacent to the path…
This colour change chameleon was interactive and drew a crowd of excited children…
The Regent Honeyeater is native to South East Australia and critically endangered…
If you’re arachnaphobic, you might want to skip the glow in the dark tarantula…
One of the more intricate sculptures, this giant saltwater crocodile opens and closes his large mouth…
The Sumatran Rhino is hairy, two-horned, and now desperately rare in the wild…
Another critically endangered species, the magnificent Sumatran Tiger, represented in light…
At various points along the walk, these little Pygmy Tarsiers perch on overhanging branches. We thought they were lemurs at first…
The trail is decorated with thousands of lanterns, made by school children as part of the Zoo’s Centenary Program…
A Corroboree Frog – poisonous, indigenous to Australia, and endangered…
It was all incredibly spectacular, but I’ve saved the best for last. This stunning blue masterpiece – an Asian Elephant – moves his head gently from side to side…
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If you’re in Sydney and haven’t yet caught a Vivid display, there’s still time! The festival runs until the 18th June 2016, and there’s a list of all the different precincts and installations at the Vivid Sydney website. And if you’re not in Sydney, I hope you enjoy these photos – it’s a great pleasure to be able to share a little bit of our wonderful city with you!
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