Enlighten: Canberra, AUSTRALIA

Each year, there seems to be a light festival in Canberra... these light festivals are really becoming a thing as we had also seen them in the Netherlands and also in Sydney. I'm guessing that the wide-spread availability of LEDs are now making these festivals much easier to put on... with reduced electricity costs combined with brighter and more vivid colours being available to "paint" with.

Anyway, the festival in Canberra is called Enlighten, and it does mark quite a large event in our sleepy Australian capital... but sadly, the parts that we saw weren't quite as interesting as the ones that we have seen in other places.... but that said, we probably went to the wrong area as there were several locations for the festival.

Anyway, we went to the area in the front of Old Parliament House and the surrounding memorial buildings. We had heard that the major buildings were all lit up and we were hoping to see something interesting...

...but sadly, the foreshore area was done up more like a beer garden... which would have been okay if we had brought the family down to have a bit of dinner and a walk... but it was relatively late, and we were just down to have a little walk around and to see some lights.

Plus, with all the music and entertainment... it was clear that this was more like the "party" zone for adults and older kids...

Still, there were a handful of light displays that were sort of interesting... but I think the bulk of the displays that we were hoping to see were in the main shopping area over on the other side of the Lake.

... yep, big displays of colour, but nothing really that nice to look at... plus, lots of people and noise.

... but we did walk our way up to Old Parliament House, and we did see the old building lit up quite nicely ... telling a story of the history of the building!

Each "scene" told a story of different decades from the inauguation through to the present day.

... and the National Library also had an interesting display, even if it was more photos than "sculpture". Sadly, the rest of the memorial buildings had either nothing... or just colours with no real design.

So, a bit of a disappointment next time, we will seek out the other areas. Or be in Sydney for the big festival there!