We’ve been around the world. We’ve been everywhere
You think of a place, and probably been there
My life would have been a total failure
If I hadn’t seen Western Australia
It’s far away from the neighbours, far away from it all
If you never been in love, man, you are going to fall
It’s hot and it’s tough, and it’s incredibly pretty
and in the land of Oz it’s like Emerald City.
Australia. Coldplay
I woke up with a jolt. Where was I? What time was it? And what the heck was I doing here? The hotel room pitch black from the blackout roller blinds – only a sliver of morning light coming through curtains. I stumbled out of bed, fumbled my way to the window, and with a clickety-click pulled up the blinds. The alarm clock on the tiny nightstand showed 4:45.
In front of my eyes, morning was breaking. The deep azure blue of dawn giving way to the orange and yellow hues of the morning sun. The dawn into a bright and sunny day. Good morning sunshine. Good morning Perth!
I was on the other side of Australia. 3290 km from Sydney. 18421 km from Toronto, Canada. The furthest city from home. What had started as a silly idea months ago – a Schnapsidee my mom would have called it – had become reality: Welcome to Perth! Welcome to Western Australia!
How I got here? Well, I can explain. And I am sure that you will agree, that this was indeed the best Schnapsidee ever! And I did not even have any schnapps when I planned it!
In fact, it all started at school. During class, to be exact – but don’t tell my boss! Coldplay was coming to Australia and as a true Coldplay superfan, I saw it as my absolute duty to attend their concert in Downunder. Much to my, and all of Sydney’s dismay, their only concert in all of Australia was going to be in… no, not Sydney. Nor Melbourne. Nor Adelaide – which would have all been somewhat reasonably accessible cities. No, their only concert was going to be in Perth!
I knew that Perth was on the other side of the continent. I did not know how far it was, to get there. Ignorance is bliss. And so, on that fateful Monday morning in May, I entered my name in the online ticket lottery, not really expecting to score a ticket.
But, lo and behold – 47 minutes later and thousands of fans in line in front of me, my number was up! There it was, a reserved ticket and a prompt to enter my credit card number. With shaking hands and sweat collecting on my forehead, I entered the payment details and: SUCCESS! YOU ARE GOING TO SEE COLDPLAY IN PERTH! Digital confetti filling my phone screen. I let out of small scream, my students quizzingly looking at me. ” Back to quiet work, everyone!”
And I was going to soak up that sunlight in front of my window with every inch of me.
Turns out that soaking up the sun in Western Australia was pretty easy to do. A gorgeous blue-sky kind of day ahead of me, the perfect weather for a road trip to Margaret River, along gorgeous white beaches and the deep-blue waters of the Indian Ocean.
With 8.8 hours of sunshine per day, Perth is the sunniest State Capital in Australia (in comparison, Sydney has a measly 7.2 hours of sunshine per day on average. Toronto gets a whooping 2.5 hours a day this time of year.) With the country’s best weather and clearest skies, Western Australia has outshone Queensland as the nation’s Sunshine State.
And the sun over here was incredibly bright! With less air pollution due to Perth’s isolated location thousands of kilometres away from the next big cities, there is less stuff in the air for the sunlight to travel to and scatter off. Perth – the City of Light.
However, the City of Light got its name not because of its brilliant rays but because of a cute story that involved the earth, the moon and the stars, the notion of feeling isolated and alone, and the idea that we are all connected somehow.
In 1962, as the story tells, the American astronaut John Glenn was orbiting earth in his spaceship “Friendship” as the first American to do so. It was night in Perth, and the residents of the isolated city on the west coast of Australia wanted to make sure that John did not feel alone on the spacecraft flying over. The residents and local businesses made an effort to turn on all of their lights, so John could see the city below.
And he did! As the spacecraft approached the coast of WA, John could see the city brightly in the cover of the night. The City of Light was born! Only too well did the people of Perth understand the same feeling the astronaut would have experienced alone in the spacecraft. In a way, the bright lights of Perth in the dark of the night signified the hope of humankind in what seems like a dark void of uncertainty.
The next day, a walking tour through Perth itself. More lights, this time in the shape of Christmas lights in all shapes and forms Australian. After all, ’tis the season. Light-up kangaroos in front of old government buildings, ginormous silver Christmas balls at Elizabeth Quai, and light. up Christmas trees between skyscrapers in the business district. Lights, and more lights everywhere – as if the hot sun burning down on us was not enough.
And then – finally. To top it all off: the light show of all light shows brought to the City of Lights. Flashing wristbands, pulsating strobe lights, fireworks and glowing ballons. I am sure, had there been a spaceship orbiting the earth that night and flown over Perth, it would have seen the show light up space.
60.000 people coming together to celebrate music and happiness and unity. People from close and people from far like me, who had acted on a silly schnapsidee that made absolutely no sense but just felt right. People from Perth and surrounding areas, from the Outback and other states. From Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide. From Jakarta, Singapour and other exotic places. People who sang and danced together and turned on their lights to light up the stadium, light up the city, light up the sky. People who paused for a moment to send their love to all corners of this earth: from my kids in Toronto to all the people in the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan… Thoughts of love and hope and light. Tiny thoughts in the big picture. Tiny lights like stars in the dark nightsky. But lights nonetheless.
And in that moment it seemed that once again, the bright lights of Perth in the dark of the night signified the hope of humankind in what seems like a dark void of uncertainty.
Look at the stars
Yelllow.Coldplay
Look how they shine for you
And everything you do
Yeah, they were all yellow
Thoughts From the Upside Down 