24 Hours of Events in Sydney

Tennis

When we learnt on Friday evening that Andy Murray has made it through to the finals of the Sydney Tennis Classics due to played on Saturday, we realised we had an opportunity. A bit of research and a few clicks later and we had our tickets and hotel booked, and were ready to the make the most of 24 Hours of Events in Sydney!

It was an early start on Saturday to drive the four and a half hours to the Olympic Park. We managed to snag some free parking close to the hotel, checked in and then walked through the Olympic Park in awe. It was a bit of a ghost town, with vending machines with coke BBE April 2020, discoloured and distorted by the heat. The noise of the insects was also incredible!

The Olympic Stadium was all closed up but still amazing to see, and we enjoyed walking through the Games Memories exhibit from the Sydney Olympics in 2000, to see all the names of the volunteers, as well as the torches from both the Olympic and Paralympic torch relays, and other nuggets of information and statistics from the games. Once upon a time I think the exhibit was interactive, but sadly not that day.

There were a few fast food places open close to the train station and there was an event on at the aquatic centre opposite so there was a bit of buzz of energy around there.

We found an Oliver Brown‘s café open, and ducked in for a light ‘lunch’ and a coffee to get us through the next few hours of tennis.

We continued down Olympic Boulevard towards the Ken Rosewall Arena, and we could hear the noise of the crowd and the music. It was exciting!

We went through the rigmarole of getting into the event during covid – mask-wearing, checking in, showing vaccination status, trying to find our ticket again and face ID not working… – and then we were through! There were a number of food and drink stalls available, so we earmarked what we might want later in the day and went into the arena to find our seats.

We were lucky to have an amazing day of tennis ahead of us – it was Finals Day and our tickets were for all four finals matches!

The stadium was fairly empty for the doubles matches, but got busier as the afternoon went on. Someone had sat in our seats, so we simply selected some better ones (although we did have to move a couple of times when their owners came to claim them).

There wasn’t much time in between matches due to the busy schedule of the day, but we dashed out for food, drink and ice cream breaks in between.

The atmosphere was so good, especially for Andy Murray’s match with everyone shouting their encouragement and waving flags – the crowd really got behind him. His serves were the fastest of the day, and the match was nail-biting to watch. Unfortunately he didn’t win, but we were so pleased to have been there to watch his first final in two years.

We didn’t manage to get any pictures of the women’s doubles finalist, but we were lucky enough to get some good photos from the other three trophy presentations.

After the tennis, we wandered back to the hotel via the Ice Creamery and planned our Sunday!

Sydney Festival

On Sunday morning the Olympic Park was more alive! There was a vegan market close to the train station with foods that looked and smelled delicious, as well as books and clothes. We picked up some breakfast, and took the train into Circular Quay (with just one change at Lidcombe) to see some of the exhibits that are part of the Sydney Festival.

We first headed to the art installation at the Opera House – Thaw.

It started at 12 noon whereupon the Iceberg was hoisted into the air over the harbour, with a lone woman on top of it. During the day and the 8 hour performance, she will be scrambling to protect it from the elements and the industrial crane, as an urgent metaphor for the climate crisis. Obviously due to the heat, the iceberg was already starting to melt by the time it was in place

Once we had our fill of the performance, we hopped back on the train and headed for Darling Harbour to see the Airship Orchestra, 16 inflatable sculptures pulsating with glowing light and music. It is an interactive and multi-sensory installation. Although it was hard to see the lights during the day, it was brilliant, and something a bit different!

Then we wandered to the waterside to see Macrocasm – Giant floating artwork on Cockle Bay. It’s a recreation of the tiny underwater worlds above water for all of us to see. There we pedal boats going around the artwork, and while that would have been a great way to see the artwork, still managed to get some good photos from where we were standing.

From there, we headed back to the train to make our way back to the car for the long journey home.

It was an eventful weekend, with an overheating car and a nearly lost bag, but totally worth the trip for 24 Hours of Events in Sydney!

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