Stunning skies: High vantage points prove their worth with sunsets like these.
I’m a sucker for a killer sunset.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
So much so, I have a ladder permanently propped against my house to climb on to my roof and watch the sun fall regularly in the evenings, getting as clear a view as I can manage in suburbia.
Obviously, the higher vantage point helps for that.
In flat little Shepp, void of skyscrapers and rooftop bars, there aren’t too many places to get up high and take in wide sweeping views of the sky unless you do mount your dwelling.
Of course, there’s the tower in the CBD, which offers impressive 360-degree views of the city and surrounds, but it closes before the sun sets.
There are, however, incredible sunset views from Honeysuckle Rise at the Australian Botanic Gardens in Kialla; many private rural properties also have great views, if you’re lucky enough to have access to them; and our waterways make for postcard perfect pictures, as the last golden light of the day drops down and casts stunning reflections over them.
Stealing the show: Cockatoos provide the audible effects while the colourful sunset melts across the sky.
So a little over a year ago, you can imagine my delight when it was announced by SAM that the fourth level balcony of its new four-storey building would be open for ticketed Sunset at SAM events.
Now that’s an unobscured sunset view.
Of course, that’s if you don’t consider hundreds of cockatoos a visual interruption to your viewing pleasure.
They are arguably an audible interruption to your listening pleasure, though!
Last year Sunset at Sam was a weekly event aimed at adults.
Tickets (around 30 bucks if my memory serves me right) granted access to the balcony, drinks, finger food, atmospheric live music and THE best view of the sunset in town.
Wine down: Sunsets at SAM saw adults enjoying treats and live music as the sun went down.
I went with a friend and it was a relaxing couple of hours for us mums to take a break, have a tipple, a nibble and a mingle while enjoying the ambience and capturing a gazillion photos of the ever-changing sky, which looked a different colour palette each minute that passed.
I had wished my kids could have experienced it firsthand, rather than just through the images and videos I showed them on my phone when I returned home.
This year, Sunset at Sam is back on the last Thursday of each month, between 4pm and 8pm, and, while under-18s still don’t have access to the terrace bar overlooking those priceless views, the event’s new format does include access and activities for the whole family.
Kids can get involved with drop-in art-making workshops and curatorial and artist talks for free, without even the need for booking.
The bar event is still part of the programming for adults only, but doesn’t begin until 5.30pm — and you’ll need to pre-purchase a ticket.
(Please note — the next event, on March 30, sees a Polyglot program for the kids take place on level four of SAM, banishing the bar event to level one in the café this time around, not up high with that exclusive view I’ve been raving about.)
Love or hate the new SAM, fan of art itself or not, I don’t know many a human who isn’t wowed occasionally by a remarkable sunset.
I’d urge anyone to check out this unique Shepparton view at least once and I hope that the sky plays nicely and decides to show its stunning sunsets in their true and many varied colours, on Thursdays in particular.
Wow moments: The sky in Shepparton is set with a plethora of colours.
As for me, I plan on going again and again. I’m such a sucker for killer sunsets and am hoping the program will become a permanent fixture on SAM’s calendar long after my kids all turn 18, so they can finally get an eyeful of our skies from that phenomenal vantage point, too.
19°C