White Night, colourful night 繽紛的「白夜」

In my many years living in Melbourne, I don’t go out very often because there’s usually not much to see and the night scenery is generally rather plain. But it was a different story on 23rd February, as it was the inaugural White Night (which originated from Nuite Blanche of Paris) with round-the-clock art exhibitions, light shows and opening of selected art galleries, museums and the State Library from 19:00 to 07:00 the next day. I took the opportunity to see what was on offer.
在墨爾本居住多年，平常甚少晚上逛街，因為沒甚麼看頭，夜景又有點單調，但2月23日那晚可不同了，那晚是墨爾本首屆White Night（白夜），市區由晚上7點至翌晨7點有接連的藝術展出和燈光表演，博物館、藝術館和州立圖書館通宵開放，我見機會難得便出市區附庸風雅一番。

State Parliament building (of Victoria)

維多利亞州議會

Flinders Street railway station on a normal night

平時晚上的Flinders Street車站

Possibly one of the best night scenes that Melbourne can offer

少數墨爾本夜景中最美的一面










I first went to a free open-air concert by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with a friend at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. There was almost no seating space left 15 minutes before the scheduled start at 19:00, but fortunately I spotted a small unoccupied patch of lawn towards the top of the spectator area. Many were already sitting on their rugs, ready to enjoy an evening picnic against the backdrop of classical music and a pleasant summer atmosphere. The Orchestra played two pieces from Mozart (La Clemenza di Tito and Violin Concerto No. 3) and the Symphony No. 4 by Mahler, but it saved the best till the end when a quadriplegic youth came forth to the stage and conducted the Orchestra for The Marriage of Figaro. The youth had long held a wish of conducting the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, so a local charity called Make A Wish helped him realise his dreams by placing him in the orchestra and allowing him to practise therewith. His hard work and dedication were evident as the joyous and boisterous started streaming steadily, albeit a little slower than usual, following the movements of the conducting rod. The standing ovation at the conclusion was truly deserved.

我先和朋友到露天音樂場Sidney Myer Music Bowl聽墨爾本管弦樂團（Melbourne Symphony Orchestra）的免費演出，我們在7點開場前15分鐘到達時已差不多坐無虛設，連「山頂位」的草坪也幾乎插針不入，幸好最後也給我倆找到一點空位，很多人都鋪開了一張張毯子，準備一邊聽演奏一邊野餐，享受美妙的黃昏時光。當晚樂團選奏莫扎特和馬勒的樂章，壓軸好戲是由一個先天四肢癱瘓的少年指揮莫扎特的《費加羅的婚禮》，原來該少年一直有心願想當墨爾本管弦樂團的指揮，本地一個名為Make a Wish的慈善機構便幫他願望成真，安排他跟樂團練習，演出時可見他很認真下過功，樂團跟隨其稍慢的指揮棒，奏出這輕快的樂曲，悠揚的樂韻和他的努力，令全場觀眾為之一振！

Before the concert, at the interval and during the second session

演奏開始前、中途休息時和第二節演出時

It was almost 21:30 when I left the concert, and I made a quick dash to the banks of the Yarra River for the light shows. The multitude of laser colours and patterns projected to the water streams was rather captivating for the large crowd of audience along both sides of the river.
散場時已差不多9點半，我便趕快到雅拉河畔觀賞燈光表演，七彩的激光照射到水柱，變出不同的花式，感引大批遊人駐足河畔兩岸觀看，令人目不轉睛。

The crowd became more massive as I made my way along the river bank through the underside of Princes Bridge. The bridge itself was also jam-packed. I have never seen such a turn-out of people in the city at night since moving to Melbourne 20 years ago. I guess that people were craving for alternatives to dining, drinking and clubbing and thus pouring out in droves for something new and unusual. It was estimated that at least 300 000 thousand attended the various events of the White Night!
河岸穿過太子橋底（Princes Bridge），不論是橋上或橋另一邊的河岸都水洩不通，墨爾本如此人頭湧湧，還是我旅居二十年來第一次看到！我想大家對晚上吃飯喝酒夜蒲以外的另類消遣飢餓已久吧，所以一下子都湧了出來，據悉當晚最少有30萬人參與白夜的不同節目呢！

Huge crowds at Southbank

雅拉河南岸的人潮

The Spheres of Love

傳情達意

After a good wander along the river, I returned to the Princes Bridge to find the Flinders Street railway station transformed into a performing stage. Bands took their turns throughout the evening to perform on the steps of the main entrance. As a huge audience built up in front of the station and many others were lingering nearby, it became a battle to cut a way through the crowd to the other exhibitions!
沿河溜躂了一會後，折返太子橋，經過Flinders Street市區火車總站，正門的台階，搖身一變成舞台，在不同時間由多支樂隊輪流演出，引來一大班觀眾聚集，當我轉身走時，好容易才在人堆中劃出一條出路呢！

Princes Bridge decorated by laser

激光裝飾的太子橋

The performance stage also known as Flinders Street station

裝飾和功能都變成舞台的Flinders Street火車站

The buildings near Flinders Street station, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, put on a new technicolor face with a regularly changing pattern of shapes and colours on their walls. What was normally rather non-descript became a backdrop to a fantasy world such as that seen in video games.
火車總站附近的聖保羅大教堂（St. Paul’s Cathedral）和幾幢大廈，當晚都披上了彩衣（全靠激光投映），而且定期更換款式，令一向平平無奇的外牆，變成一個變幻不定又繽紛的佈景板，鮮豔的顏色和圖案結構又教我想起電玩的場景。

Snaking on the walls

不知跟蛇年有沒有關？

Reminds me of Tetris

令我想起俄羅斯方塊

Changing façades  變幻的外牆

There were many other shows and displays in other venues around the city, but I had to give them a miss mainly because of the train service. The train line that I need to take would not run through other city stations due to maintenance apart from Flinders Street, and there was no round-the-clock train service planned (although a crowd of 300 000 people in the city clearly justified it!) I did not wish to waste my time on making my way slowly through the crowd and having to dash back to Flinders Street after a brief look at the exhibit, so I left already at 23:00. I would have stayed longer if there was a better provision of public transport, and let’s hope that there will be next year, so that I could explore the other events!
當晚其他地方其實還有各種展出和表演，但那晚美中不足的是，我要坐的火車線因維修而不會駛經市區的其他車站而祇停Flinders Street站，也沒有通宵火車服務（其實有30多萬人上街，的確有如此需要），再加上街道太擠（即使市區多條主要街道已劃為行人區），我不想跟人群擠一大段時間後匆匆看過一眼其他展出便得折返火車總站，所以11點便回家了，如果交通服務更完備的話我也想多留一會。但願明年續辦時安排會更好，好讓我看看其他地點的展出了。