INTO A BEAUTIFUL CASCADE OF COLOUR
QUITE a few travel experi- ences can light up your life – but Australia’s biggest city has got an attraction that takes that claim literally.
Vivid Sydney, an annual festival of light and music, is a visual treat and a sensory overload in the best possible way.
The action centres on Circular Quay where hotels, offices, stores and apartments are lit up in bright yellows, pinks, electric blues and neon oranges. In the distance the Harbour Bridge stands proudly saturated in yet more colour once the sun disappears below the horizon.
The star of the show, though, is the Opera House, which acts as a canvas for moving images. Gigantic in scale, projections range from Aboriginal art to shoals of fish, morphing into turtles and oceans of stunning flowers…and so the show goes on.
This year marked the eighth incarnation of Vivid, which was conceived to encourage more tourists to visit during New South Wales’ quieter months.
My base was the Sydney Harbour Marriott, itself cast in splendid hues from the moment I arrived.
I spent my first morning in Oz getting to grips with a Sydney mustdo – the BridgeClimb Experience, inset. After choosing the Express climb, the quickest way to reach the top of RICHARD TRENCHARD the iconic structure, which opened in 1932, my jovial guide Jackson was on hand to calm nerves.
Many famous faces have made the same trip including Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. By chance, I was joined by Peyton Meyer, star of the Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World, and his family.
The next day was reserved for finding out more about this incredible city with a MyDetour sightseeing tour. Stepping into a beautiful 1964 Holden Premier, we cruised photogenic neighbourhoods for three hours with Richard, the man with the knowledge, enthusing about his home city. Our choice of ride turned plenty of heads, too.
Along the way we took in sights from regenerated ghettos to megabucks enclaves, including Kylie Minogue’s old home.
Sand was never far away either, with stop-offs at Bondi and Bronte beaches offering a chance to watch local fashionistas in their unfeasibly large sunglasses.
Hungry souls should try lunch at Henry Deane’s at Hotel Palisade, with its contemporary stylings and cocktail lounges that look out across town. Elsewhere is Aria, an awardwinning restaurant on the harbour’s edge, with great views and a splendid seafood menu.
But you don’t go to Australia for the cities alone. The biggest island in the world has an endless wilderness so I headed for the Blue Mountains, about a 90-minute drive away.
The Three Sisters is the area’s most spectacular landmark, a triplepronged rock formation, which juts out of the Jamison Valley.
The area’s most popular tourist attraction – Scenic World – is also a treat. Offering the chance to cross close to the Three Sisters and Katoomba Falls on a glass-bottomed cable car, you get a true sense of the depth and vastness of the valley. The attraction also features the world’s steepest passenger railway – a 1,000ft “drop” of around 50 degrees. My guide Eric once walked for 17 days through the valley to reach Canberra. I chose a less exhausting stroll around a 2.4km walkway, spotting a native lyre bird along the way.
Next was a quick stop at the Hydro Majestic Hotel, an art deco-cumEdwardian abode near Katoomba, for afternoon tea overlooking the aptly named Megalong Valley.
Opened by Mark Foy, the Australian equivalent of Mr Selfridge, the hotel’s atmosphere harks back to the era of grand travel in which it was built.
From here, the route took me to the incredible Parklands Country Gardens and Lodges, a secluded retreat in 28 acres of grounds.
My odyssey from metropolis to Outback eventually took me to Port Stephens, a picture-perfect coastal spot three hours north of Sydney.
There I boarded Envision Cruise’s catamaran to go whale-watching.
Dolphins are a regular sight, along with seals resting on Cabbage Tree Island. But whales were what we were here to see and there was huge excitement when spray from a blowhole was spotted on the horizon before we saw one at close quarters.
An overnight at the Anchorage Port Stephens, a Hamptons-style guesthouse, provided the perfect stopover.
Our final few hours were spent in the hands of Sand Dune Adventures, speeding through the largest moving coastal sand dunes in the southern hemisphere on quad bikes.
It was the perfect way to say farewell to a thrilling destination.