20th Anniversity World Expo 88 Celebrations

This is Part II of Expo 88. The previous post covered
the period from June to October, 1988 and this post
covered the 20th Anniversary held on the Expo site
on 10th May, 2008.

We started our walkabout around the old Expo site
and one of the first things we came across was the
Kookaburra Queen, a paddle boat, which was offering
1988 prices of $5.00, for a one hour cruise up the
Brisbane River. The first cruise left at 11.00am so we
were lucky enough to board just in time before the
cruise departed.

The next cruise was at 1.00pm and when we returned
there was a large crowd lined up waiting to board, as
you will be able to see in the photo. I’m pleased we
caught the first cruise as I would not of been too thrilled
to be caught in this line up.

During our cruise down the Brisbane River we
passed by the centre of the CBD.

The CityCat vessels are catamarans. Services
began in 1996 with 6 vessels, each capable of
carrying 150 passengers, with two further vessels
being added to the CityCat fleet in 1998 due to
increased demand. This is very popular with
tourists as it is a pleasant way to travel past
such Brisbane icons as the Story Bridge and
South Bank Parklands.

There were 45 minute concerts held at the Suncorp
Piazza, a huge under cover area that has been kept
as is since Expo 88 and many free events are held
there all year round.

There were 3 free movies shown on a huge outdoor
screen. At 1pm there was “The Neverending Story”
(a film my daughter Olivia loved when she was young,
and coincidently I brought this film on DVD for Olivia
last November when I visited her in Mackay).
At 3pm there was “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial” and at
5pm there was “Back to the Future”.

A photographic display of over 30 images was
showcased throughout the bougainvillea arches.

A Kids Expo was held with free outdoor art activities,
including face painting, kite making and musical workshops.

One of the acts in the Piazza was of two lovely ladies
doing a balancing performance on a hoop over the
audience and fortunately we were quite close to where
they were, so I was able to take a number of photos
of their act. They were excellent.

There were roving entertainment of street performers,
and this was one of the most hugely popular events at
Expo 88. You could be assured if there was a large
crowd somewhere it would caused by one of the street
performers “doing a crowd stopping” act. These were
extremely well acted performers and we saw three of
these today.

Three different types of Street Performers...all were great.

There is not a lot one can do to try and make
these performers move, no matter how hard
some people attempt to persuade them.

Another attraction was the Human Factor Sculptures,
and it was these that attracted me to go back to
re-visit again. Some of the original sculptures were
sourced and restored and these were featured
throughout the parklands, but unfortunately these were
hard to find. We found three of them, but I’ve cheated
and I’m showing some of these I’ve “found on the net”
(there were nearly 80 sculptures) and it is these I am using.

Busker

…………..................................Campfire

...............A Quite Moment

..........Old Lady

..........American Tourist

Balancing Act

.........Astronaut's..................................Balancing Act

Some More Street Performers

We stayed until 4.00pm and
all in all we had a enjoyable
time and some great memories
were relived.