Poly friend meet-up and LEGO Brickvention 2011

We had planned this meet-up since last year when Val told they were coming for holidays in VIC! Val and I had not yet for about 8 years! We got to know each other during the final year at Nanyang Polytechnic Singapore, when we chose our specialisations and did some modules and projects together. She and her hubby RX(as she usually calls him) met in poly as well. Their relationship blossomed into a wonderful love story as they are now married and have a cute daughter called Sheryl.

We met up with them last friday night for dinner and dessert. Tubbs treated them dinner at Pacific House restaurant along Chapel St. They were after all guests visiting from interstate. Val and RX studied in Queensland during their uni days and now RX is back to do his Master and of course Val and Sheryl followed too. They felt bad about us treating them and so we let them return the favour by buying us dessert. ;)

Val, Sheryl and I at Ganache Chocolate, Chapel Street.

Group pic of me, Tubbs, Val, Sheryl (sneeky little wave) and RX.

Over the weekend, Tubbs and I also went to Australia's Lego Convention, called Brickvention. We had planned to go together with Khim, Ellen (also LEGO fans) , Michelle and Jason, but when we drove past Russell St in the late morning, we saw a huge crowd and line around the building leading to the town hall where the convention was held, and so were in two minds now about it. Never did we expect it to be so popular and crazy!

Cindy (also a crazy Lego fan) said she drove past and saw the crowd as well and decided to give it a pass because they had to rush off for something else. While having lunch at Kopitiam in QV, The 4 of us had decided not to go except for Khim and Ellen who were adament about going. Luckily Han gave me a call and said he was lining up(already had been for an hour) and asked us to cut his queue. Michelle and Jason still decided not to join us as the queue was still quite long.
And so it was just Tubbs, Me, Khim, Ellen and Han. We still had to line up for another hour before we were let in, but it was well worth it! Above are some favourite picks of mine. Boy was it really crowded! It was a body-to-body push and shove around some of the stands to get a good look at the displays. Some of the proud Lego creators were explaining to people how long they took, the amount of bricks used and how they came about the idea of their creation.

A lot of the displays were Lego towns and city with some of the rarer and more exclusive ones like the Big Ben, Taj Mahal and London Bridge also spotted. Sets like those probably go for close to $1000! The last I checked, the Taj Mahal was around AUD$999! And so it was a great and rare opportunity to be able to see these magnificant sets in person. We spent quite a few hours there and only left at about 4pm-ish. It was a tiring but fun day!

Here's a link to the LEGO Brickvention 2011 photos on facebook if you want to check out more amazing display pics. Enjoy!