Summer in Sydney
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 18 January 2006 03:42:24
I'm guessing this is not the image you had in your mind when you read the heading.
On Monday evening, a friend (Nila) and I, after having dinner with Frank and Alexis, trotted off to the newest bar to open in Sydney: Minus 5. There are two other Minus 5 bars in New Zealand. Despite the name, it was actually around -10C [~14F].
It was very different to what we expected. The photos we took give you an idea of what is in the bar. Sculptures, lounges, chairs, tables -- all made out of ice. Completely. Even the glasses you drink your cocktails from are made of ice. The tables have small blue mats where you can place your drink: else it'd slide right off.
There are a few rooms you enter before you get to the bar. You are given your jacket upon payment, and then you are led down a corridor where you get your gloves, as well as boots if you have open-toed shoes. You then move to a room where you get an electronic beeper (you can see it hanging around our necks), which buzzes and flashes after 30 minutes. 30 minutes is long enough in there, at a time, I think.
Seeing everything made of ice, from the glasses to the chairs to the lounges to the sculptures was just amazing. Everything was so smooth as well: my gloved hands just skated across the surfaces. I loved the various sculptures and sitting in an ice chair was interesting. It was truly a different world to that which I was in 10 minutes before. I felt transported. There was also a "waterfall", though the water was actually anti-freeze: some people thought it may be vodka -- I hope they didn't try it.
At $30- (including a free cocktail) it's probably a once-in-a-blue-moon visit, but it is good fun. Especially when it's humid and warm outside: though it felt even warmer and more humid when we went back out!