I was super excited to work, for the first time, with the fantabulous Deep Sea Astronauts over the weekend.
These guys have a number of whimsical acts and their trademark is high quality, original Australian curiosities. The beautiful couture costumes are hand crafted in Sydney by a team of local artisans. There’s a squadron of iconic birds, including cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets, as well as native bees, witchety grubs and dragonflies.
Photo: Lingsi Lu / Costume: Deep Sea Astronauts
Photo: Duckie / Costume: Deep Sea Astronauts
I got to spend the day playing a majestic white-faced heron, significant as a community has recently been preserved in the Tempe wetlands. They have also been known to poke about Barangaroo, looking for fish and small crustaceans. It was a perfect sunny day, the water was sparkling, and swarms of families photographed, fed, pet and chatted to team heron.
The event was the first birthday celebration of Barangaroo, Sydney’s new harbourside district. Though controversial and with the unfinished casino still looming high above, the newly landscaped foreshore is gorgeous, with thick cut sandstone framing an array of native trees and shrubs.
Underneath it all is ‘The Cutaway’, a new cultural space in a concreted void, with a vast, stunning sheer sandstone wall which is worth a visit alone, especially while it is still golden and not yet oxidised. (Yes, I love sandstone)
Photo: Lingsi Lu / Costume: Deep Sea Astronauts
There was also a range of other really cool stuff on show, including the Sculpture by the Sea installations & a very cool indoor nature play area complete with workshops and bush tucker. (I got to sample a native finger lime, yum)
Supposedly they set a new record for the area, with 50,000 people coming through on the day.
A great way to spend a sunny Sunday!
Photo: Duckie / Costume: Deep Sea Astronauts
Photo: Lingsi Lu / Costume: Deep Sea Astronauts