So we went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show yesterday. Be warned, it's a big, picture heavy post ahead, without much knitting involved.
First things first.

A Highly Commended! I'm pretty happy with that - the shawl that won was gorgeous. It's the creamy coloured one you can see a bit of. I forgot all about taking pictures of the winning shawls and the other knitting entries.As usual, some were gorgeous, some not gorgeous, but a lot of work put into them all.
Although some one had knitted an entire baked dinner, which was on display!

That ends the knitting content, unless you want to look at alpacas and sheep!

The Easter Show has been running for around 75 years (I think), and is a pretty big deal in Sydney. It runs for two weeks, and for the next two weeks, if anyone says "I went to the show", everyone knows exactly what they are talking about. The whole thing is supposed to be about bringing the country to the city, and there are all sorts of competitions from art and craft, food, baking, produce and animals. It's become a lot more commercialised over the years, and there is a lot of junk type stalls, and food stalls, and the prices are exorbitant.

It's now held in Olympic Park, where some of the events from the 2000 Olympics were held. When you get off the train, one of the first things you see as you enter the park is the Olympic Cauldron, which is now a water fountain.

Animals are a huge part of the show, and you can walk through all the pavilions where the animals are kept. There are horses, cows, pigs, sheep and goats. Most of the animals on display are farm animals, apart from each day there are different breeds of dogs, cats, bunnies and caged birds for competition.
We got a bit carried away with the alpacas. They are so cute, and they make the funniest noises - entertainment plus.

These two were cute, they were having a little kiss.
There's a farmyard nursery, where they have all the baby animals. You can see chickend hatching, and all sorts of baby animals. For many of the kids in Sydney, this is the only chance they get to get up close to pigs, ducks, goats and the like.

We saw some sheep.

Sheep. Sorry, I love wool, but the alpacas were cuter and more entertaining. ;)
For Jessie, chickens.

I love the fluffy one!
Not a farm animal, but there was a koala on display from a wildlife group.

It's a hard life!

In the food pavilion, every year there are displays, made by different areas. Each of these displays is made of food, grains and other agricultural products.

Here's a hint of what the crowds are like.

Traditionally, the first weekend is the quiet one. Next weekend (Easter weekend) is the busy one. Yeah, it gets busier!

There are carnival rides.

We didn't go on any this year. Prohibitively expensive, and I'm not sure that I'm up to it anymore. Although both DH and I had a hankering for a ride on this.

The Slingshot. It's a steel cage on a bungee cord. Two people at a time, locked into the cage and flung hundreds of feet into the air. However, it's $30 each to go on it, so we decided not to this year. Mind you, there was a long line of people waiting for a turn.

Finally, the showbag pavilion. Years ago, the showbags were called sample bags, and were bags of samples put together by companies and given away for free. Not any more.

There are hundreds of them, and 99% of them are a ripoff. There are chocolate bags, and toy bags, and its all nothing more than rampant consumerism. And the kids go mad for them. Em got a few cheap ones, I got a Darrell Lea one. (Aussies know exactly what that is, for the international crowd, it's chocolate. Yummy chocolate.
At the end of the day, there is some great entertainment in the main arena. Last night there was a rodeo (Australia v USA, Australia won), precision cars - I love the precision cars!, Lady Cannonball, and fireworks.
Then it's time to go home, with aching feet and empty wallets.
And assorted junk, like lei's, cowboy hats and cupie dolls.