My Yearly Culture Infusion – Opera In The Domain

Once a year, I gather up a shelter, lots of water, some food and my knitting and meet some friends at the Domain in Sydney for an afternoon of knitting, laughs, chatting, food and camping out a really good spot for the Opera later in the evening.

This is the only photo I took all day.  It was hot, with only occasional breezes, so I didn’t end up knitting anything.  But I had such a good time just sitting and chatting with everyone.  In that photo from left to right, there is WebGoddess, MissReecie, Issy, Derek & Sally.  We were “wave 1”, and from about 1pm tried to claim as much space as we could so the people who would join us later wouldn’t be squished or overcrowded.  And from about 3pm onwards our troops started drizzling in.

What I find amazing, is no matter how obvious you make it that you’re all together, and that you have your blankets spread out for a reason, people will still try and squeeze themselves in any nook or cranny you have in between blankets.  Or even worse, when you’re striking your shelter (as you have to do as the sun starts to go down), the second it’s off the ground, while you’re trying to pack it back up, people will jump in practically underneath your feet WHILE you’re putting your shelter down.  Simply put, if you want a good position, get there early like the rest of us!  (end.of.rant)

The Opera this year was Carmen.  I’d not seen it before so I had no idea what to expect.  The sound had some issues, and there was a stupid barrier on one side of the path (which made it impossible to see the stage from where we were), so we had to rely on the big digital screens.  Did I enjoy it?  Well, I didn’t NOT enjoy it.  I just found three of the four main characters really unlikeable and it was hard to feel for any of their plights.  But the music was good.

I like that this has become one of the things I do every year.  It’s nice to spend an afternoon with friends, and really, the opera is really incidental to the wonderful day that precedes it.