A few months ago, we booked ourselves some flights to Australia to visit the Sydney Vivid Light Festival which is held over three weeks (normally from the end of May through to mid June…2019 runs from the 24th of May through to the 15th of June) and is a highlight on the Australian event calendar.
So if you wondering, “What is Vivid Sydney?” then I can help you out…it’s a pretty special light and music festival that turns Sydney into a magical playground for people of all ages…you can walk around various Vivid locations or take a Vivid cruise to view the lights from Sydney Harbour…we did both!
There are various installations dotted around the city and while we wanted to visit them all in our weekend in Sydney including Vivid at Taronga Zoo and Luna Park, sometimes you just need to go with the flow and realise that two nights wasn’t possibly enough time to visit it all.
We arrived into Sydney late on Friday evening from Auckland and once locating our hotel at The Rocks, we wandered around the area before picking up a cheap Vivid Sydney Harbour Cruise…$15 (AUD) for 20 minutes which took us past the Opera House, Botanical Gardens and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge….it was cheap and cheerful and for me, the lights were best seen from the water.
If you’re looking for a Vivid Sydney Cruise Deal then check out Groupon that had a number of deals on their website including a Vivid Sydney Dinner Cruise.
There are food stalls including one selling candyfloss (or Fairyfloss in case you’re an Aussie and reading this post) which was bigger than my head…
…of course I took some lady like photos…you’d be disappointed if I didn’t! These photos made me realise I need to go and purchase some new bras…before my boobies touch my toes! Did you scroll back up to check out the boobie situation?
On Saturday evening, we decided to wander around the various Vivid installations on Circular Quay…
…past turtles…
…and peacocks!
Many of the installations are interactive so you can play a harp that lights up as you play…
…to light shows on the facade of beautiful buildings.
We shuffled along to the Sydney Opera House…
…and then endeavoured to take a family selfie with the Sydney Harbour Bridge…
…which was a fail even with my monkey length arms holding the camera…
…thankfully a family beside us took our photo (she was on her tippy toes!)...I’m glad that selfie sticks seem to be on their way out as people ask strangers to take their photos again….it makes the world a happier place when someone asks you to take their photo nicely.
We carried on with our shuffle to the Sydney Botanic Gardens which is one one of the Vivid Sydney locations…
…if I’m really honest…this section disappointed me the most…
…it had so much potential to impress and just fell short…I’m sure there will be folks out there that will disagree and that’s okay…it just didn’t float my boat.
As you enter the one way walkway to the Botanic Gardens, make sure you turn around and grab a photo of the two Sydney icons which are all lit up for Vivid behind you…the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge…which Sydney icon is your favourite?
We headed back to The Rocks to check out the installations and then heading towards The Harbour Bridge and by far, this was my favourite section…less people and great views of the Sydney Vivid Light Festival…from the ballerinas…
…to the balloons which light up according to your pulse…
…I have no pulse as they didn’t light up…and all the beautiful lights in the Sydney CBD.
Our hotel offered glow sticks so I made myself a necklace which soon became a headband…
…we had a lot of fun taking family photos.
Lisa made herself a skirt to wear at Vivid which I thought was pretty choice…
…she’s a very keen and talented seamstress whom owns a lot of material. Check out the outtakes…and the chaos behind us!
These clouds were right behind out hotel…there may have being a flashing incident!
My Travel Tips for the Sydney Vivid Light Festival –
- Wear comfortable walking shoes…these are my personal favourites for travelling
- Book a hotel close to Circular Quay or The Rocks…we booked here on points and I can’t recommend it enough for location for the Vivid Festival…plus the roof top pool area has amazing views across Sydney Harbour.
- The Sydney Harbour Lights are turned on from 6pm – 11pm but would recommend checking out the Vivid start time and program by clicking here for updates.
- If you plan to take many photos then I would recommend a tripod; while some of the photos turned out okay just using a night time function on my camera, many are not super crisp but that’s okay! I would recommend practicing with your camera before heading the festival. Just remember to have fun folks…people enjoy seeing your unique personality coming through in photos.
- Public Transport is the best way to get to Vivid Sydney as a number of the main roads are closed off to traffic.
xx
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