Vivid moments

Sydney hosts an annual winter festival of lights called Vivid. As part of this spectacular event more than a hundred artistic light installations are on display for 23 days throughout the central city. This year’s festival, the 14th since its inception in 2009, includes stunning drone shows, a techno train and regular fireworks displays.

Yesterday Garry and I caught up with a couple of old friends, Danny and Aggie, who were in town to see a new production of Death of Salesman that opened last week. We met them at the Verandah Bar on for a drink and a light meal before they headed for the theatre.

Afterwards Garry and I decided to venture down to Circular Quay and catch a few Vivid highlights. We walked as far as the Opera House before grabbing tickets to wander through the Royal Botanic Gardens and experience the impressive Lightscape event. I’ll let my photos tell the story!

Swept away by history

Last weekend I visited a temporary Banksy exhibition at the Sydney Town Hall. The exhibition features more than 160 artworks from this globally renowned street artist. The art on display includes limited edition prints of his most recognized pieces, a body of work spanning almost three decades.

Banksy’s artwork often take the form of multi-layered stencils. Some of his most striking art installations also integrate objects already present including street signs and fire hydrants. His work is often satirical, combining dark humour with thought-provoking messages about art, philosophy, and politics.

A Banksy original regularly commands valuations in the millions, including iconic works like Girl with Balloon. A original framed copy of this artwork was sold for $1.4 million by Sotheby’s in 2018. In a classic Banksy move, immediately after the auction ended, a shedder hidden in the frame was triggered by remote control. It partially shredded the piece to protest the folly of capitalism. Ironically, this act instantly increased its resale value.

During last week’s exhibition, I discovered that another of Banksy's most recognized pieces, English Maid, was originally painted on a wall in our London neighbourhood. It’s an image of a maid lifting a section of the wall and sweeping dust under it. In hindsight, I have a vague recollection of seeing it outside the Roundhouse on Chalk Farm Road. Sadly the artwork, created in 2006, has long since disappeared. 

All in all, it was a superb show. Interestingly, the same organisation that arranged the Van Gogh exhibition we saw in London is responsible for this event. I love Banksy's whimsical style. I'll be sure to buy one of his works the day I win Lotto. My first piece will be, The Mild Mild West, a teddy bear throwing a Molotov cocktail. Painted in 1999, it was Banksy’s first major street art installation.

Afterwards, my route home took me past another iconic artwork. I walked through Hyde Park as I was keen to explore a dramatic sculpture on the park's western boundary. It depicts four golden bullets and several spent shells standing vigil over passersby. It appeared a few years ago but I’ve yet to discover its origins. I’m happy to report that it's a stunning memorial to First Nation's people who've fought on behalf of Australia. Now that's progress!

ABBA fever

Every so often Facebook flicks an interesting advert my way. This year’s winner would have to be a promotion from an event organiser called Fever. Its offering includes a series of quirky candlelight concerts in some eclectic venues.

One concert caught my eye. It was a string quartet playing ABBA’s greatest hits in St Stephens, a classic Edwardian stone church in Sydney’s CBD. I was intrigued by the notion of 80s pop music being reproduced by a string quartet. On a whim, I booked a couple of tickets.

Garry and I kicked off our evening with dinner at District Brasserie in Chifley Tower. This set the tone for our night out. The meal was superb and the venue’s atmosphere had a quirky Wall Street gastro-pub kind of vibe.

The concert itself was a delight. The music really did sound like ABBA. The venue was surreal and by the end of the evening, the audience was tapping its feet and singing along to each classic hit. I’m not sure I’ll ever sit in a church pew again while sitting ABBA hits by candlelight. Our verdict; heaps of fun!  The following video gives you a taste of the experience.

Roadhouse mayhem

Our final day at the Red Centre was spent with a final morning at Uluru.  We visited a few stops we’d passed earlier on the trip including a walking track that took us right up on to the base of the rock itself.  Close up you really start to appreciate its uniquely textured surface.  We did momentarily stop to consider climbing the rock.  However, the trail was closed due to high winds at the summit.

Our final hour in Yulara was spent visiting art galleries.  We were keen to find the perfect Aboriginal artwork for our apartment.  We’d almost given up hope when we stumbled across a spectacular piece created by Justin Ronberg Japurrula.  It’s now framed and sits pride of place at the top of our internal staircase.

We then took a leisurely 247km drive back down the Lasseter Highway.  Our destination for the evening was the Eridunda Roadhouse, situated on the intersection where the Lasseter Highway meets the Sturt Highway.  It’s considered the largest Roadhouse on the Sturt Highway so we thought it’d be the ideal place for us to experience at least one night at a classic Roadhouse.

Along the way, we stopped at the Mt Connor Lookout to soak in the view of this mesa formation towering over the desert.  Mt Connor is privately owned and so, for most visitors, this is as close as you’ll ever get.  On the opposite side of the road from the lookout is a vivid red dune.  We climbed it to get a better view. At its crest, we discovered it also offered an impressive panorama of several permanently dry salt flats stretching out across the Outback.  The entire lake formation is hidden from the road by dunes.  We’d have never seen it had we not stopped and gone for a walk.

Our Roadhouse stop proved to be more of an adventure than we’d ever expected.  The experience started well.  We arrived late afternoon in time to witness our road trip’s most stunning sunset from a viewing platform built on a low hill behind the main complex.  The Roadhouse also houses a menagerie of Outback fauna including Camels, Kangaroos and Emus.  We then enjoyed a wholesome meal at the Roadhouse Diner before settling down for the night.

The following morning our Roadhouse experience took a turn for the worse.  At times it was like watching a slow-motion car crash unfold.  Almost everything that could have gone badly wrong did.  I rose early and made my way to the shower block. Inside I found every toilet was overflowing and the showers were running cold.  Needless to say, I turned and walked straight out again.

Then, as we got ready to depart the campground, I managed to lock us out of the Motorhome with the keys inside. We tried every conceivable idea to get back in with no avail. We began contemplating a call to the hire company and resigning ourselves to a lost day of travel and hundreds of dollars in callout fees.

Then, just as all hope was lost, a late-departing couple told me the maintenance guy was still on site. I’d been told earlier by a rather dopey back-packer receptionist that it was his day off. I eventually tracked him down in a nearby cabin and secured a wire coat-hanger.  Garry then worked his magic and eventually got a sliding window to open.  Even better the shower block drains had cleared and the hot water was back on tap. We finally departed the Roadhouse only hour or so behind schedule.

A Banksy weekend

I emigrated from New Zealand more than 28 years ago.  At the time my decision was motivated in part by a desire to experience a more cosmopolitan lifestyle.  Since then New Zealand society has transformed itself.  Today when I venture back across the Tasman Sea I find an increasingly diverse range of world class restaurants and entertainment; plus hotels and tourism ventures as sophisticated and immersive as anything I’ve experienced overseas.

The contrast couldn’t have been any starker than when I took time off to spend a long weekend with my mother last week.  My trip began with an Air New Zealand flight in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  I’ve been dying to experience this new 21^st Century pencil nosed aircraft.  I wasn’t disappointed. 

The aircraft’s advanced feature were very much on display. For example, the cabin windows are huge.  I had an aisle seat but was still able to enjoy the view as we came into land in Auckland. The cabin felt lighter and airier.  The air wasn’t as dry and dehydrating.  The inflight entertainment system was sleek and responsive.

Soon after arriving my mother asked if I wanted to see the Banksy exhibition in town.  I nearly fell off my chair.  Surely Mum was joking.  How on earth could a regional city in little old New Zealand be hosting a Banksy event?  Banksy is renowned British street artist.  His works regularly sell for upwards of USD 1 million or more.  To date his identity is unknown adding to the aura of his fame.

Incredibly the Tauranga Art Gallery was hosting an exhibition of street art.  The event featured 22 works by the elusive Banksy including several instantly recognisable pieces.  The Oi YOU! Collection which includes these works, plus 58 pieces by other prominent artists, has been touring New Zealand and Australia for several years. 

The Collection is owned by George Shaw and Shannon Webster who began collecting in 2005.  Their passion for Banksy art was perfectly timed, They were able to buy several works the price of his work began skyrocketing.  I was delighted to see his famous Flower Thrower.  This work depicts a protester throwing flowers rather than Molotov cocktails. 

The Tauranga Art Gallery had also commissioned a number of street art murals around the inner city.  Mum and I took a walking tour to see these pieces in their all their glory. We picked the perfect day to venture out as the sun was shining and temperatures were surprisingly mild for winter.

Hotel de Wheels

Everyone raves about the Museum Art Hotel in Wellington.  The hotel had a great room rate on offer last week so I decided to try it for myself.  The fish sculpture you can see above greeted me every morning as I waited for an elevator.  However, the most interesting exhibit in the lift lobby was a display case capturing the story of the building's relocation several years earlier.

The building once sat on the edge of Wellington harbour.  In 1993 the 3,500 tonne reinforced concrete structure was moved 180 metres along the waterfront and then back across a major road to its current location  It was relocated to make way for the new Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.  The entire feat was achieved by carefully cut its foundation piers, then lifting the  building onto giant rail trolleys which were then pushed delicately along temporary rail tracks by enormous ram jacks.

Here's how Stuff.co.nz summed up the relocation on its 20th anniversary last year:

• 3000-tonne, four-storey building - the largest ever shifted in New Zealand.
• $2.4 million cost ($3.7m in today's dollars).
• 3 months of preparation for a 3-day move, in two stages
• 120-metre shift - 80m east along Cable St (August 14-15, 1993), a 90-degree rotation and 40m south across Cable St (August 21).
• 5-10 metres an hour - the average speed of the building when moved
• 3 kilometres of rail line on 8 tracks.
• 96 "bogie" rail trolleys pushed by 8 hydraulic rams.
• 120 tonnes of push needed to move the building.
• 48-hour closure of Cable St for final track-laying and relocation.
• 1000-strong crowds watching the various stages of the move