More of the Enlighten Festival

I was quite happy with my photos from our first night out at Enlighten and we decided to go out on our second night and take some  more distant images from some of the further Canberra viewpoints.The weather was quite mild so it was very comfortable being out at night.

Our plans were delayed somewhat by a very long wait for our dinner to be served at the restaurtant at our hotel. It took over an hour before the food hit the table and we were not very impressed. We eventually received some compensation with a large discount off the price, but we were late getting out on the road.

Our first stop was at Mount Ainslie from where we could get a view directly down Anzac Avenue and right across to Parliament House. With a long telephoto lens I could capture both the old and the new buildings in the one image as they were illuminated.

From Mount Ainslie, we drove around to the eastern end of the lake and found the Carillon lit up. It deserved a few photos so I spent some time wandering around in the dark looking for various vantage points.

From there, we moved on to Parliament House. I had expected the small outdoor carparks to be very busy but because it was now later in the evening, we managed to find one spot just as another car was leaving. The lighting effects on Parliament House were really good but it turned out that they were even better on our third (and last) night in Canberra.

We filled in our first day (Saturday) in Canberra by driving around many of the places that we have visited on previous occasions and reviewing the changes that have occured since our last visit. Yesterday, Sunday, we drove across to the little historic town of Bungendore in NSW to visit the Wood Gallery and to see all of its wonderful pieces of timber artwork, As usual, they were superb and just as expensive. Some of the beautiful inlaid decorative boxes were priced at $7000 – a price which was truly justified by the level of craftmanship and skill required to make them.

I have to confess to coming back to the hotel for a nap in the afternoon. These pre-dawn starts and late night finishes to the days are more than this old man can manage.

Yesterday, I had caught up with my Probus Friend (Steve McLean) in the morning and we agreed to have a drink together and then go back to Parliament House again at night. It turned out to be a good decision as we were there before it had become dark and we had some beautiful clouds behind the building. It actually rained for twenty minutes, or so, but after the rain shower had passed, the sky was even more beauitiful with purple and pink evening clouds. My photos were much nicer than those that had taken on the previous night where the sky was just plain black. I came back to the hotel feeling very happy!