Organisers of the Rio Olympics opening ceremony ambitiously promised the “coolest party ever” and, at the risk of succumbing to the hype, it was pretty darn fun to watch.
The coverage kicked off at around 9am our time, which while more breakfast time than party time for us, made for some spectacular viewing over our morning toast.
You can check out our easy guide to the Rio Olympics here.
At nearly four hours long, 12 samba schools danced through the Maracana football stadium for the ceremony in front of some 50,000 onlookers.
Impressively, the organisers managed to deliver the giant bugs, a whole lot of samba dancing and even a super model for a tiny portion of the cost of the Beijing and London opening ceremonies.
These were our favourite moments, what were yours?
1. The giant goon sacks.
Any good Aussie knows nothing says ‘let’s get this party started’ like a sack of cheap wine, so it seemed fitting when a small army of tin man-esque performers entered the stadium carrying enormous bags of goon.
What an opening!
Okay, it probably wasn’t wine, but we loved it anyway.
2. The amazing parkour-friendly metropolis.
Basically the stadium was transformed into a scene from The Matrix as more than “100 buildings” appeared to rise out of the ground.
The projections represented Brazil’s urban metropolis and there was parkour to boot.
Is that you Trinity?
3. Gisele Bundchen walking around a lot.
‘The Girl from Ipanema’ is one of the most recognisable tunes to ever come out of Brazil (side note: I once had a boyfriend with 52 different versions of it on his iPod).
It was fitting then that the iconic song would soundtrack some of the ceremony, perhaps as fitting as sequined gown worn by supermodel Gisele Bundchen as she sashayed into the stadium for her last public catwalk.