Last year we viewed the Vivid Festival from across the Harbour at Milsons Point. I'm not sure if it really counts as being part of the festival if you watch it from a few kilometres away, but it was all we had time for. This year after multiple promptings from Ethan we did a little better and ventured into Circular Quay, so we could see the light displays up close. Above is Ethan and I outside Customs House.
Customs House lit up and very colourful.
It seemed like a great idea for a family activity - spending Saturday evening taking the kids to the Vivid Festival and picking up dinner at The Rocks night markets. However, it seemed like half of Sydney had the same idea. The entire area of Circular Quay was literally packed with people - more people in one place than either David or I have ever seen. The picture above was taken at The Rocks - imagine manoeuvring a pram through a kilometre of that . It was a clear Saturday night on a long weekend, on the last weekend of the festival after the previous weekend had been very wet, so I guess we shouldn't have been too surprised at the crowds.
We knew we might be in for a bit of a crowd very soon after leaving home. We drove onto the highway and hit stand-still traffic. A check online indicated that the traffic was blocked up all the way across the Harbour Bridge, so we decided to abort the idea of driving into the city. Instead we drove to Milsons Point, parked there and caught the ferry across to Circular Quay. This was a huge bonus for the kids, particularly Erica who complains that I don't take her on enough public transport. She feels a little hard done by that when Ethan was young we had one car and hence Ethan spent a fair bit of time travelling with me on buses, trains and ferries. Whereas Erica is growing up in a two-car family and feels a bit sad about her 'predicament'. Oh the trials!
Ethan had the best vantage point.
Light projection on the Opera House.
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