Sydney’s Vivid festival ended with this spectacular light show and is like no event you’ve seen
Vivid is the biggest festival you have never heard of — think Glastonbury, only with flip-flops instead of trench foot
IT was quite an offer – go to Sydney Opera House and sleep with 200 people.
We were in Australia’s sexiest city for Vivid, a 23-day music, art and light festival.
And it was how we found ourselves bedding down for a one-off sleepover in the iconic building.
Vivid is the biggest festival you have never heard of — think Glastonbury, only with flip-flops instead of trench foot.
This year it put on nearly 200 gigs across the city and not one featured Kylie Minogue or Men At Work.
Instead, it was brilliant acts such as New Order, Bon Iver and Polica who topped the bill.
Boy George was also in town for a DJ set.
But whatever he’d planned for his after-party was surely less extreme than our musical marathon at the Opera House.
The all-night, eight-hour concert by British composer Max Richter was called Sleep — and for good reason.
Beds were laid out and Richter asked you to nod off.
I’ve fallen asleep at gigs before but the night usually ends with a bouncer telling me: “You’ve had enough, mate.”
Instead, this one finished with the sun coming up over Sydney Harbour Bridge and a crowd in pyjamas looking on in stunned silence.
Although fair play to the one joker who did ask for an encore.
An entire night of moody string music isn’t for everyone, of course.
Even at the concert some people went to bed at 11.30pm, got their eight hours and emerged for the end at 7.30am.
But there’s something for everyone at Vivid.
You may think Australia doesn’t need a zoo, given that at any one time you are probably only a few metres from a dangerous animal.
Well, Sydney has one.
And as part of a nightly show, Vivid illuminated giant statues of ten endangered species, including one called a regent honeyeater.
It sounds like an American news anchor — “Hi, I’m Regent Honeyeater” — but, in fact, it is a rare type of bird.
And it deserves to be saved from extinction for its name alone.
The crown jewel of Vivid though is the light show on the Opera House.
This year, Aboriginal-inspired artwork was projected on to its side every night of the festival.
But the best place to see the show is from the top of the bridge.
As there is so much more to the city than scorching heat, it is the perfect time to go
If you have the steel to do so, you can hike to the top with Sydney Bridge Climb.
There was even a light-up disco floor on the platform at the top.
Regrettably, this was the one Vivid venue which did play Kylie.
Each year since 2009, when it was first curated by Brian Eno, Vivid runs into the early Australian winter.
As there is so much more to the city than scorching heat, it is the perfect time to go.
This week they announced 2017’s dates — May 26 to June 17.
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We took a surfing lesson at Bondi.
According to our instructor Will, from Let’s Go Surfing, it gets so busy in summer that fist fights break out in the water.
Instead, we had the water to ourselves.
Except for the shark, that is, which was spotted just after we got out and which caused the few lone swimmers to be evacuated.
Such sightings are rare, we were assured.
And if even the sharks prefer the more relaxed atmosphere of the off-season — it was still 20C while we were there — then maybe there’s something in it.
Sydney may be an expensive city but there are ways to eat affordably.
Spice Alley, which is ten minutes from the centre in Chippendale, is a buzzing new Asian-style market, where the equivalent of £10 gets you a full dinner.
Or if you’re in Bondi, head back inland where cafes such as Lox, Stock & Barrel offer fantastic and reasonably priced food.
We were shown the best places to drink properly by Dave’s Brewery Tours, which puts on pub crawls across Sydney.
Dave is a man who can literally organise a p**s-up in a brewery.
And he is likely to throw you to the sharks if you ever mention the F-word — Foster’s.
The tour started rather sweetly with a question about what our “beer journey” was.
But it took a dark turn when one fellow drinker offered: “Two words: Alcoholics Anonymous.”
He had fun, obviously.
But so did the rest of us.
Sydney has some of the best new beers in the world, with a cluster of fantastic breweries in Marrickville, just a few miles south of the city centre.
They are well worth the trip and easily beat the expensive beach pubs or touristy bars in the centre.
Mind you, it is hard to shake the idea that you are on a stag do when you are sipping beer out of a jam jar with a bunch of people you don’t know at 10am.
Australia, obviously, is a long way away.
The fact we are still three months behind on Neighbours is proof of that.
But here’s the thing.
We had initially thought about going to Europe but given we were travelling during the summer half-term, flights were nearly £300.
A return to Sydney wasn’t even twice that.
For just £250 extra per head, we flew 18,000 extra miles — and ended up in the most breathtaking coastal city in the world.
Before we went, we were convinced it would be the holiday of a lifetime.
Well, it wasn’t.
Because we will be back soon.
GO: SYDNEY
GETTING / STAYING THERE: Vivid Sydney runs from May 26 to June 17 in 2017.
British Airways Holidays offers seven nights at the 3.5H Arts Hotel Sydney from £1,029 per person for selected departures in May and June.
Includes return flights from Heathrow and accommodation. Price includes a free room upgrade to next category if available. For reservations visit .
MORE INFO: For the Vivid Sydney festival, go to . For travel, see or .