With warm summer air and a care-free holiday attitude infiltrating every aspect of Sydney, it’s amazing to me how January can be such a party month! Although I tend to associate January with the gloom and doom of winter, it’s been refreshing to actually enjoy the wonderful activities of the Southern Hemisphere. And believe me, Sydney doesn’t disappoint.
This last weekend marked the final days of the Sydney Festival, a month-long extravaganza that exposes Sydneysiders to the best of the best in international and cultural performance while celebrating the city’s birth month. The festival puts on practically every style of performance conceivably imaginable: concerts from all different genres, dance performances, symphony recitals, operas, art gallery openings and, yes, even a full-fledged circus. And while most tickets go for hundreds of dollars months in advance, as a broke international traveler I got to experience the best bits of the Sydney Festival through free shows. That’s right, every weekend in January, the Sydney Festival sponsored free events in a large park. Seating is open but limited, so my friends and I showed up early with our blankets and snacks in tow. I felt extremely classy, drinking white wine with my cheese and crackers while watching the Sydney symphony play the best of Leonard Bernstein’s classic pieces. The next week, I repeated the situation with Bernstein’s satirical operetta Candide. It was definitely a treat to see the “cultural” side of Sydney, especially on my shoestring budget.
The January events culminated with Australia Day on January 26th, which marks the day that the convict ships first harbored in Sydney to start the colony of New South Wales. The entire city shut down, providing free concerts, Australia Day activities, and bouncy houses in practically every pocket of the city. I explored as much of the city as I could in the heavy and humid 29.0 Celsius weather (That’s about 84 degrees Fahrenheit). In my four-hour adventure, I saw live children’s performances, classic cars from all around the world, inflatable obstacle courses, Australian military vehicles, and a crazy reggae band. It seemed like the entire city was out to enjoy the day, and it was really exciting. That evening, thousands of people gathered around Darling Harbour to watch the Australia Day fireworks and boat parade, very similar to Independence Day in The States. I had never seen such a large-scale fireworks show before, and it was definitely the best way to get into the Australian spirit.
Now that January is over, it seems like the party would end, but it looks like it’s just the beginning. With a Chinese New Year celebration that lasts a month long in February leading into one of the largest LGBT Mardi Gras celebrations in the beginning of March, it looks like the parade of parties isn’t ending anytime soon.
