Open Air Cinema - Sydney, Australia

Botanical Gardens Open Air Cinema

Australia has already exceeded my expectations, and I feel very fortunate to have just stumbled into great opportunities while here. I downloaded the lonely planet Australia guide book on my Nook, which promptly froze on page 32, so since then I've just been winging it. Of course, it's pretty easy to do that when you meet so many other fellow travellers. On my walk "home" from the Manly ferry, I ran into a venue at the Botanical Gardens, the Open Air Cinema, which also features a beer garden and live music prior to films. I invited a few British friends from the hostel and we hurried back in the rain to catch the film, "Fading Gigolo" which boasts a good cast (Woody Allen, Sofia Vergara, Sharon Stone and others) and despite its name was actually pretty funny yet inoffensive. We scored discount tickets on the street from a nice local guy, got the last seats in the very back which actually made for a more impressive panorama, plus a giant tree as a rain shield, occasional critters (possum?) running around our feet and bats flying overhead! But the highlight was definitely the view of the harbour including the city skyline, bridge and Opera House lit up. In the middle of the movie fireworks started above the Opera House, icing on the cake. What a cool city!