Ekka time!

I have never been to the Brisbane Show before. The Toowoomba Show, yes, many times. I was very small on these occasions and don't remember much about it except the animal petting zoo (always puzzled me, why were these kids so excited about baby chickens? We have them at home on the farm all the time!) and fairy floss and the Gravitron. Anybody else get that ride at their local rural show? Man that thing was the scariest ride ever. I remember going on it once and the girl next to me threw up and the vomit flew sideways before plastering itself to the clothes of some other poor sucker. But I digress...

This year, after four years of putting it off, C agreed to take me to the Ekka. I have no idea why the Brisbane Royal Show is called this, I should Google it probably but that is boring. On with the show!

The first thing we did was visit the dog pavillion. There were big dogs, little dogs, skinny dogs, fluffy dogs and noisy dogs! It was great. C was disappointed he couldn't find any German Shephards. Maybe they were all out the back feasting on some prize cats and birds, who knows. This one dog decided to go to the loo right in the middle of his judging. The poor teen leading him looked like he just wanted to curl up and die. A lady came out and cleaned it up with a broom and pan. What a job.

We wandered around until we found the beef cattle. I must say this was a highlight for me. Though I grew up on a farm that raised beef cows, these were truly amazing animals. All perfectly formed, beautifully shiny and HUUUGE. The really big ones were sitting down, I think I would have been scared if they were standing up. One weighed 1.2 tonnes! There were Angus, Blondes, Limosins, Brahmans, Santa Gertrudus and Charolais and breeds I'd never even heard of. It was great. I didn't even mind the cow poo everywhere.

Then we hit sideshow alley. What a place! So much bigger, gaudier and carnier (that's a word I made up) than anything I have ever seen. We spent $10 at the shooting gallery. Once again, as when we use REAL guns, I shot better than C. Ha ha.

You wouldn't catch me on this thing. Who knows what bolt may have been missed??

We then visited the dairy cows (much less exciting) and the birds. Man, there are some big chickens out there. I was glad some of the roosters were in cages. Those suckers were MEAN. I'm not scared of chickens, but I felt very uneasy when one that came up to my waist was eyeing me off. In this section were also pigeons (very fancy ones too!), ducks, geese, turkeys, budgies, finches and parrots. I'm trying to convince C to let me get a finch. We'll see.

Then we sat down at the main arena. We watched the non-hackney in harness section (little buggies! So cool!) and some show jumping. That was pretty spectacular to see close up.

And lastly, the pavillion I had been looking for all day - the arts and crafts. Everything from weaving to scrapbooking, photography to decorated eggs - it was all there. The cakes were by far the most popular of all.

And then we had gelato, and then we went home. I don't know if I'll go again next year. My feet still hurt two days later!