Let me tell you about the Royal Easter Show

The Sydney Royal Easter Show is something I've heard about since we've gotten here.

Typically, it's been something parents at work talk about taking their kids to over the Easter school holidays. I've always kind of discounted the Royal Easter Show, thinking it was something for kids. But this year a friend at work started telling me more about it, and he convinced me it was worth paying the $40 to check out.

And let me tell you, the Easter Show transcends description! The best I can do is to call it a supercharged country fair plus carnival plus food festival. To help describe how big this event is, I should mention that it's at the Olympic Park, just a little bit outside the city center. Special trains run to the Olympic Park for the weeks of the Easter Show, and people all around Australia (and from New Zealand) come to show their goods/animals/skills and compete.

Sheep shearing demonstration, "Wash a chook," and the dogs in their cubicles getting ready to be shown

Hands down, my favorite bit of the Easter Show was the animals. In a way, it reminded me a lot of being home: lots of horses and cows all around. On the day I went, there were lots of schoolkids showing their various animals.

One of the events I attended was called "Wash a Chook," which was an event where schoolkids from around Australia cleaned up their chickens (including blow-drying them) and presented them to a judge to determine the best-looking "chook." It was a hoot!

Another favorite demonstration was a sheep shearing demonstration. Two "champion shearers" demonstrated using both electric clippers and the old fashioned manual technique. One of these guys has sheep sheared in front of the Queen. Twice. Quite an accomplishment! =)

There were multiple pavilions with different animals on display and competing for top prize. Lots and lots of sheep, and rows and rows of fowl.

There were slighty more niche animal events too. Like the shetland ponies pulling tiny carriages...

And, of of course in the poultry pavilion, there was a chicken art competition - because... why not? 

The best poultry art I saw all day!

My ultimate favorite of the animals was the Australian sheep dog demonstration. It was absolutely fascinating, and the dogs were so fun to watch. The farmer who trained these particular dogs brought out three different dogs in different stages of their training and showed how their behavior differed when rounding up the sheep. He also showed how they make the dogs confident enough to run on top of the sheep's backs when they're in tight spaces. I loved it!

If the animals were my first favorite thing about the Easter Show, the woodchopping demonstration was my second favorite. I came to learn that this event is called the "Wimbledon of Woodchopping, " and it was pretty amazing. Treefelling, chopping, sawing, you could basically see any variation of woodchopping that you can imagine. I watched a few different events and they were all amazing - even though they only lasted for a couple minutes tops.

Of course, there were lots of the traditional country fair-type exhibits: cakes, breads, jams, honey, artwork, beadwork, tapestry, painting - entire display halls were filled with all of the goods in competition for the coveted blue ribbon!

There was also a food hall, which I almost skipped. Luckily I decided to stop in because it turned out to be anything but boring. 

The sides of the room were giant displays of Australian produce, arranged to make pictures or arrangements. It was truly amazing - not only some of the giant produce, but also how they managed to make scenes from food. 

I closed out my day at the Royal Easter Show by visiting the Showbag Hall. Showbags were the main thing I've heard about when people talked about the Royal Easter Show. Coworkers talk about how excited they were to go the show when they were kids because they'd get to choose a showbag; now they take their kids and let their kids buy a bag. Basically, they're like a bag full of cheap toys or themed paraphernalia. The really amazing thing is the vast variety of showbags. It's a giant space full of these booths, and you can buy showbags themed from magic prizes (the cheapest bags) to sport teams ($35). I've never seen anything like it; it was pretty overwhelming to take in. But I also completely get why kids go nuts for it!

Overall, I had a few takeaways from the day:

• I'll be going back next year if I can - it was too much fun!
• Next time I'll pace myself a bit. I tried to see everything and I ended up being exhausted with all the walking around. I'll pick a few things that I really want to see and then spend more time sitting and watching events. 
• The Australians know how to do an Easter Show!

Posted with Blogsy