Mooncakes galore - Sunday adventures

It's the time of the August Moon, according to the Chinese calendar, and this means mooncakes everywhere in Chinatown. I took a stroll around Sydney's Dixon Street to take in the festivities.

There were lion dancers, snatching red envelopes of money hidden inside lettuces strung up high above doorways:

And more mooncakes than you could poke a bamboo pole at:

Clashing cymbals and pounding drums and prancing lions:

   Happy Moon Festival!

Double yolk, white lotus mooncake:

David Jones Flower Show 2011 - Floriography

 This Saturday was spent wandering through a department store.
Nothing new in that, but the David Jones flower show is on and it is a riot of colour. This is the 26th anniversary of the show and the theme is 'Floriography, the language of flowers'.  There are over 30,000 flowers and just as many camera-wielding 'shoppers' enjoying the spectacle. Definitely worth a visit.

The David Jones flower show is on at the DJs Elizabeth St, Sydney store, from 1-11 September 2011.

The purple ball of blooms is an allium, from Holland.

There are also 3000 cymbidium orchids and 4800 phaeleonopsis orchids (the lovely white ones in the first pic) on display.

The Waratah is the state flower of New South Wales.