Enthralled crowds were transported to a magical moonlit garden as the Dunedin Midwinter Carnival put on its biggest show yet on Saturday night.
Audiences were treated to a spectacle never seen before in the carnival when a 10-minute animation was projected on to the facade of St Paul’s Cathedral, to gasps and applause.
The projection froze the facade in ice, transformed it into a giant lantern, and turned it into a glowworm cave.
Previous carnivals featured fireworks to cap the festivities, but these had been replaced with the projection for safety reasons.
Reid Houghton (8) said although he liked the fireworks in the past, the projection was "still good".
His favourite part was when the church became a gingerbread house with candy cane pillars and gumdrop windows.
A gingerbread man teetered on a ledge to the crowd’s consternation before escaping back into a window to general applause.Earlier on in the evening, people packed the Octagon and surrounding streets for the biggest procession of lanterns in the event’s history.
Dancers in shimmering silver moth costumes whirled around a full moon lantern at the head of the parade, followed by a cavalcade of enchanted garden critters.
A constellation of mouse lanterns was followed by a swooping snowy owl, mushrooms and flowers towered over snails and garden gnomes, and a team of firefly dancers trailed after a huge phosphorescent praying mantis.
Drummers, singers and brass bands kept the tempo up for the marchers, and a jazz brass band at the tail of the troupe transported the crowd to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.
Fraser Lawrence (7) said he liked the stilt walkers, and the parade was better than he had seen in previous years.
There were more than 1000 volunteers marching in the parade carrying hundreds of lanterns.
Spectator Diane Stanley said she had been to most of the past events, and this year’s parade was "the best one yet".
George St to the north of the Octagon became a bustling night market, as hungry revellers snacked on roasted chestnuts, candy floss and churros.
