Monday 25 June 2012

Week 25 - Angus the Winter Magic hatchling

On a very sunny, clear, brilliant blue sky and cold winter Saturday we went to the annual Winter Magic solstice festival at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney.

The first of these festivals we attended was in 2006 and we've gone each year since but I felt maybe this year was not as good as others, the variety wasn't there in the parade even though you could tell those taking part had put a lot of effort into it.

  Winter Magic 2012

 This year also the crowd seemed thicker than ever, which I wouldn't have thought possible and we had trouble finding a good spot to take photos. 
Maybe that's part of the problem, I want to see everything through the camera lens, *IF* we go next year I might just leave the camera at home.

The traffic also didn't help, roadworks have been going on for the last goodness knows how many years on the highway leading into Katoomba, and the railways decided to choose this Saturday to do trackwork on the main line.  It took our family 3 hours travelling from the central coast to meet us up there.

Being the year of the dragon, the organisers used the dragon as their theme.  Shops had dragon art work in their windows, a big Asian dragon sat on top of the Carrington Hotel and lots of dragons in the parade.
 Winter Magic 2012
 Winter Magic 2012
 Winter Magic 2012
 Winter Magic 2012
 Winter Magic 2012
 Winter Magic 2012

As we were starting to wind our way back down the hill I spotted one of the craft stalls I've been buying from for the past 6 years.

Rod and Eryn Barnett live in Victoria and travel to Sydney each year for the festival.
Rod sculpts fantasy characters which they then cast in ...something heavy... and Eryn colours them.
You can see their work at Wee Folk Garden Art

I have about six of their sculptures and this year I came home with Angus the hatchling.
Angus is resting after having just broken out of his tough dragon egg shell.

 Week 25 - Winter Magic hatchling
 Week 25 - Winter Magic hatchling
 Week 25 - Winter Magic hatchling
 Week 25 - Winter Magic hatchling

Meanwhile back at the parade:
lots of bands and drums:
 Winter Magic 2012
 Winter Magic 2012

lots of dancers:
 Winter Magic 2012

lots of large furry creatures mauling small children:
Winter Magic 2012

lots of small furry creatures being very cute:
Winter Magic 2012
Winter Magic 2012

and lots of steampunk:
Winter Magic 2012

follow the picture links to flickr for more.




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