A Walk Through White Night Melbourne

Last night was White Night Melbourne and it was excellent. Colourful, chaotic and crowded (and probably a hundred other words starting with "C") but so very, very Melbourne. Happy people, bright lights and a real sense of carnival.

Sure, there are opportunities for improvement. If you're going to bring the whole city into the event, you need to try and INCLUDE the whole city as well. Too many stretches where nothing was happening, too many streets where the only activity was walking in the half-light.

And the amenities could surely be improved. I remember the portaloo-cities that sprung up for RunMelbourne; they wouldn't have gone astray last night! I'd also love to see renewable power utilised in a big way, given the electric nature of the night and the myth that renewables can't work in the dark. But maybe that's just me.

But ultimately it was a great night, spent in FABULOUS company. It was just after 2am by the time I hopped on my tram home (another excellent initiative, the public transport kept running all night) and it was an evening very, very well spent.

So here is a selection of my happy snaps for the night. It doesn't cover everything we saw, or everywhere we went. But it does show off some of the wonder that descended on Melbourne's White Night.

(click on each pic for an enlargement)

While the night was still young.

After dinner, the crowd had swelled and the light shows had really begun!

Flinders St was brilliant.

An indication of how many people were roaming Melbourne last night.

We headed down for a walk along the Yarra...

There was a kaleidoscopic mound at one point, with bone-juddering sub-sonics blasting out every which way. We couldn't get too close because of the vibrations!

All very "Lord Of The Flies" if you ask me.

This pic doesn't do them justice... but the faces over the Yarra were a highlight of the night.

And they moved!

The source of the lights that pierced the evening sky.

Tattooed City was fantastic. Not sure I'd be comfortable seeing myself up there!

Constantly changing, this was great.

Ah, Flinders St station. You never looked so good.

Flinders Lane was pretty awesome, to be honest.

Loved this. :)

 .,,,and back to Flinders Lane.

A peek behind the scenes... one of the many, many lighting rigs around town.

We stumbled upon this exhibition at the Scots Church while heading to the State Library (which was a disappointment to be honest but that's because we were tired & didn't go inside. Oops.). Morbid and calm at the same time. Loved it.

And that's all I have to share. White Night Melbourne, take a bow... sure, you can lift your game for next year (and I'm sure you will) but for 12 hours last night...