Floriade Night Fest 2009

Trashman, I’d be pretty annoyed too if I had to wait an hour in the rain, but I’d say it was your own organisation that was pathetic. I was completely aware that Nightfest started at 6:30, and that Floriade was closed between 5:30 and 6:30. Maybe I’m just reading things a bit more closely than you.

Oh for pre-fence days when Floriade was always open. We always went at least once at night because of the beautiful lighting, and the wonderful perfume of the flowers. It was simply beautiful, and there was no need for any other “entertainment”. Enjoying the ambiance was simply enough.

Saturday evening at Floriade was a total bloody debacle (and it wasn’t JUST because of the weather).

Arrived with my fiancee (visiting from the US) at 5:15pm (walked, didn’t drive) and picked up tickets to Night-Fest. Then told we had to leave at 5:30pm and come back at 6:30pm. Told by several Floriade employees to head to the cafe/restaurant outside the main entrance to wait. Cafe/restaurant all CLOSED. Asked the gate staff if we could wait somewhere inside out of the weather and was given an empatic ‘No’. So had the choice of hanging around outside for an hour in freezing conditions or sitting in an absolutely filthy bus shelter (the norm for Canberra). Pathetic organisation.

Fifteen minutes of icy winds and rain quickly had us in a taxi heading home. Just one more prime example that if you wanted to give Australia an enema, then Canberra would be where you’d stick the tube.

25% booking fee, that’s rich!

The whole people walking around on hidden stilts thing never gets old. I could see it Floriade after Floriade after Floriade, and I have.

Expo 88 called, Floriade. It wants its oh-so-wacky street performers back.

I am a massive fan of Floriade but have to agree the NightFest line up this year is pretty average. The replaying of the Tropfest short films last year was fabulous. Five minutes of film…followed by five minutes of gossip…followed by five minutes of film then five minutes of chin-wagging…and so on…

We took a picnic of nibbles and wine, it was so lovely. But having to concentrate and not talk for a whole movie proved a task too difficult for us this year. Such a shame because it would otherwise be the perfect casual setting for a catch up with friends as well as a bit of good old fashioned ‘cultcha’ 😀

Hey organisers of Floriade…bring back the short films next year.

Just a correction, it’s $20 a ticket for adults, plus a $4.95 booking fee which you can’t avoid. I’m going tonight provided it’s not raining. The movie sounds good but I was keen on wandering around a bit and seeing what’s there – I agree shorts would be better. Can you bring your own food? What about alcohol? I was thinking of a gourmet picnic under the stars.

I think strings of fairy lights would look pretty through the flowers also.

Il Agree with the fact the flowers don’t look as good as in the day, but they still look good. they are lit with these blowup light towers which do quite a good job compared to getting blinded by LED’s from last year.

The feature films are different to last year, but they are limited to the movies released by roadshow (i think thats their name) due to the rights etc. they are displayed on a nice big blow up 14m screen.
Friday night film is hairspray.

The Pyrophone Juggernauts are a good show and a good bunch of guys to.
They have a good finally which involves 2L of explosive liquid being thrown into the air.
Its unfortunate to see people leave just before the pyro guys because its a good show.

Id recommend bringing chairs if you want to watch the show as they ARE NOT provided, they do provide some tarps to sit on though.

Choices of food include:
Fish n Chips (my fav)
Asian Sensation
Aussie BBQ
Sandwiches
Mexican

Id recommend not eating at the stalls by stage 88, they gave some people bad food a week or 2 ago. The other stalls are fine and i eat from them every night.

There is also alcohol available at various places around including the glow bar and lotus lounge.

Kids entertainment is provided including a guy from questacon who dose a good job.

btw yes i am working there every night.

Enjoy!

thomped