The Royal Easter Show

Do you remember going to the county fair when you were a kid? Remember the midway, with all the rides that would make you queasy, and the food booths that would contribute to that feeling? Perhaps you can also remember going into a smelly stock barn to look at a few scraggly pigs and cows, or entering an exhibit hall to gaze upon jars of pickled okra festooned with blue or white ribbons.

Well, you will need to multiply those memories by a thousand or more if you are ever fortunate enough to attend the Royal Easter Show of New South Wales. We too a trip to the Olympic Park on Wednesday where the Show is being held, and we were completely overwhelmed by the magnitude and class of the event. It is what we in America would call a "state fair," but considering how big New South Wales is, this state fair was huge. Acres and acres of food booths, showbag stalls, commercial exhibits, and animals, all spread over the lavish grounds that the Australian’s constructed when they hosted the Olympics in 2000.

We began our trip by taking the ferry back across the harbor to Circular Quay, the first step we take before going anywhere to the south and west from Manly. At the wary we purchased special train tickets that provided roundtrip transportation to the Show along with admission, which was a fairly good deal considering the distance. Jayne, Benjamin and Jacob had not been on the train system before and had to rely on my memory from my previous journey to get us to our destination. We got there, but not without a bit of quiet second guessing on my part as I anxiously looked at the transportation grid map and counted off the various stations we passed.
Once we arrived at the Show, we met up with Ronald, Jane, and Cindy, who began walking us past the first batch of "showbag" booths. Showbags are one of the unique customs of the show and are batches of stuff (toys, candy, magazines, ect.) that are put into a bag and sold at a discount, provided one prices all the contents individually. The bags have various themes, such as ninja, army, Barbie, or Wild West, and the contents vary from really useful items like backpacks and sunglasses to the ridiculous, like buttons, woopie cushions, and hand buzzers. Jacob found a South Park themed showbag that netted him a wallet and a haversack, and Benjamin got one that was geared for computer gamers with magazines and demonstration CDs. Jayne and I settled on one with a "Summer Heights High" theme and were pleased with our purchase. Summer Heights High is a comedy television series which Ronald and Jane introduced to us earlier in our trip hat we grown very fond of.

With showbags purchased we took in the rest of the show, or at least as much as we had stamina to see. There was a giant exhibition all dedicated to food, with mural like displays made from agricultural products that were very impressive. Vendors at this section were giving away free samples of just about anything you could imagine, and I managed to snag samples of beer, wine, roast chicken, Indian curry, salad, fruit, nuts, and even a bowl of breakfast cereal. I believe if one took the time to go twice around the hundreds of exhibitors, one would have eaten a rather substantial meal. We next went to the woodchop, a competition held in a large outdoor arena. Big beefy guys with the most polished axes on earth race each other to chop through hardwood logs placed in varying positions for each heat. One trial consisted of the men chopping notches into a vertical logs into which they placed narrow boards. Then they would get up on these narrow boards, balance themselves, and chop some more. The strength and agility were amazing. Another competition saw the men standing on a very narrow log and chopping through the thing BETWEEN THEIR FEET! One slip of that axe and a fellow’s toes would have been no more than a memory.

We then attended the Grand Opening of the Show, along with the grand entry parade. A company of Australian soldiers, sailors, and airmen stood in formation, while a brass band played the national anthem. After the Show was declared open, the soldiers marched out while the band played a marching rendition of "Waltzing Matilda" and the whole crowd stood and clapped as they passed out of the arena. What happened next was almost as impressive. A massive parade of prize cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, horses, and even dogs assembled on the field in a choreographed pattern so everyone could see them. The announcer was careful to tell the crowd not to clap or cheer until all the animals and their handlers had exited the grounds because they feared a stampede. One almost happened when an unruly cow got loose from his leader and pranced around a little, but one of the field officials managed to get a grab on his bridle and all was well.

There was so much to see and do at this fair that we couldn’t do it together. Ronald, Jane and Cindy eventually separated from us to view the animal barns on their own, and we saw just enough of the midway to convince us that getting on any of the rides would result in our saying goodbye to any junk food we had consumed. In all, we spent about six hours at the show, walked what seemed to be about twenty miles, saw perhaps a fraction of what was actually at the show, and returned home quite exhausted. It was fantastic.