Travel | White Night, Melbourne

Last Saturday the city centre of Melbourne closed from 7pm until 7am on Sunday morning. Instead of lots of traffic on Melbourne's busiest evening, the streets were full of people. Thousands of people in fact, quite possibly the entire population of the city and it's suburbs!The event was called White Night where the city transforms into a haven of exhibitions, street performances, fashion, lighting installations, concerts, dance and interactive events!

Inspired by Paris' Nuit Blanche the international network of White Night cities has grown to more than 20 globally. And Melbourne's own unique interpretation of this worldwide phenomenon was spectacular! It really was a night like no other.

I tried to capture some of the details from my experience but it's hard to get across just how incredible everything looked. To have these historical buildings lit up with mesmerising pictures was like nothing I've ever come across before. I felt like I was in a theme park or in Times Square with giant light up billboards all around me. It certainly didn't look like Melbourne but the atmosphere felt like it with plenty of amazing food and drink on offer, art all around us and a great feeling of safety. I don't think there's many cities in the world that could pull an event of this scale off with such ease.

The state library was lit up inside with this colourful array of germs... Yes you heard right. The photos above depict viruses multiplied by 1 billion. Not only was it a very factual and eye opening event but never have I seen germs depicted so beautifully. The contrast between the bright neon lights and the traditional architecture was fantastic.

And finally at the end of our journey through the night we stopped off for a quick walk through some purple rain listening to Prince 'Purple Rain'... as you do!