As the days get steadily shorter here in Sydney, the lights come on in the form of our annual Vivid festival. It’s a lot of fun and it brings the city to life.
In the meantime – during daylight hours – it’s still great to walk around the Harbour City.
This week – apart from the forays out to see the Vivid Sydney lights – we’ve been hanging out with some of our favourite people, eating some of our favourite food and drinking some of our favourite cocktails… all in all, it’s been a pretty darn fine 7 days!
Tonight we’re out at The Star Casino to see the lights from their rooftop bar – the Sky Terrace. They’ve changed it into the Vivid Lounge with illuminated chairs, a cool gaming setup that projects onto the wall, and great views out over the city.
From the street, The Star’s got a very cool light show coming from its roof that’s controlled from the park across the street by the public.
The water and laser show at Darling Harbour is really quite good. The music’s a bit cheesy but it works well enough with the amazingly choreographed jets of water, lasers and jets of flame.
The best angle to see them from is from next to the Ferris wheel.
Last night’s brief walk around The Star and Darling Harbour was just a prelude to tonight’s Instameet organised by Destination NSW. We’re heading off from The Star after a delicious pizza dinner at Pizzaperta (highly recommended by the way) with some amazing photographers to get the best views of Sydney’s finest free festival.
We head down to the water and hop on one of the Vivid Sydney special ferry rides as part of BeyondTheWharf. It gives such a great perspective of the festival. Check out the #BeyondTheWharf hashtag on Instagram.
Tonight we’re with some amazing photographers with serious Instagram skills. While we’re with them, we’re asking for some tips on taking great photos at night.
Check out our top 5 pro tips for night photography here to get the best out of the last week of Vivid Sydney 2015.
This afternoon, Mrs Romance and I are catching up with our chum Steph from LipstickAndCake.com for a bite to eat. We’ve been talking about going to Surly’s in Surry Hills for a while. It’s about the closest we’ve found to a good old American dive bar since we left the States last year.
Steph’s gone for the Handsome Mike sandwich – basically a mac and cheese with pulled beef – and Mrs R’s chosen a tasty looking Vietnamese roll. Meanwhile I’ve chosen the Surly Burger. The burger’s pretty darn fine but the crinkle fries are superb.
Check out Surly’s if you’re in the neighbourhood. Well worth a visit!
Mrs Romance is super excited today. She’s finished building the site for Little Blog Big – check it out, it’s awesome. Mrs R and Carly from Smaggle.com are getting ready for their latest workshop in Adelaide on 30th June.
Tonight we’re at a wine tasting… at home! Schild Estate in the Barossa have released their latest and greatest Shiraz – the Prämie Special Release 2013. Through the magical medium of Twitter, Scott from Schild is leading us through not only the Prämie but also their 2013 GMS, their 2013 Barossa Valley Shiraz and their delicious 2012 Ben Schild Reserve Shiraz.
The Prämie is a big, rounded Shiraz that really embodies the taste of the Barossa. It’s available from selected retailers and restaurants so keep your eyes peeled for this little number.
This afternoon, we’ve taken a quick trip to the beach for a breath of fresh air. The water is just so clear at Bondi today. We love the beach in winter. It’s so much more peaceful and the air is so crisp.
It’s International Negroni Week from 1st June to 7th June. I know. Spectacular idea, right? Basically for the next week every Negroni you buy in participating venues, that bar will donate part of the proceeds to their selected charity.
Tonight we have the pleasure of the company of Kate from SecretBloggersBusiness.com. She mentioned she had a hankering for some dumplings a while ago, so we’ve done the most sensible thing and come here to Din Tai Fung Taiwanese dumplinghouse.
These colourful little fellows are all different flavours – from bolognese to cheese! Each one is full of soupy goodness and they’re delicious.
After dinner, we’re planning on a couple of drinks – perhaps in the Wild Rover up the road and maybe a nightcap in the good old Royal Albert, of course!
Mrs Romance is looking back on her time in Bali today. I love this pic she took in the roads around Seminyak. The lamps in this shop are so colourful… and there are so many.
While we’re at it, Mrs R is also sharing her favourite place to eat in Bali: a restaurant called Mama San, and it looks pretty awesome!
Check out our review of Mama San here.
After her dinner at Mama San, Mrs R took this picture of sunset in Bali. It’s pretty good, isn’t it? Don’t know about you, but it makes me want to be there right now!
How bloody good do these cakes look? Our friend bought them from Taste – usually known for their delectable baguettes, they also order in a range of pastries and desserts that make my eyes roll back in my head. They’re the perfect way to end our friend’s dinner party.
By the way, yes, they really do taste as good as they look. Well, I mean a shiny globe of salted caramel mousse with glazed cashews all in a beautiful crumbly shortcrust case.
Not a bad way to end the week, I must say! How about you? What did you get up to this past week? And how was your weekend? Tell us in the comments!
Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid
Oh my goodness, how good are those coloured dumplings? I always order those at Din Tai Fung but they only problem is they’re almost too pretty to eat! The Vivid shots look ace – we’re going back for Take 2 tonight – the camera battery died after 2 minutes on my first attempt!
Mrs Romance
same thing happened last week to us Sam! The battery managed half the night but it was flashing so I was shooting really quickly and didn’t take many great shots. Glad we went back again (with the pros) to get some tips x
Sonia from Sonia Styling
That photo of The Star is awesome! Cannot wait to have you guys come to stay. Not long now… x
Mrs Romance
I am just a little bit excited…xx