sydney royal easter show

From the official website: The Sydney Royal Easter Show is Australia’s largest annual event, a nationally iconic showcase of Australian culture and heritage. The Show aims to recognise achievements in agriculture through competition, and promote awareness among city Showgoers, honouring Australia's agricultural heritage whilst providing a platform for the future. Live music, extreme action performances, entertainment, sideshow, food, rides, and shopping make up the rest of the Show, providing a dynamic entertainment experience for the whole family. The Sydney Royal Easter Show is a world-class event unique to the Australian culture. Around 900,000 visitors attend the Show each year making it one of the largest events of its kind in the world.

Beh Kee and I were two among the early birds who grabbed the discounted tickets online for the Show. After checking the weather forecast for the entire long Easter weekend, we decided the best day to go for the Show was on Saturday, and so we went. An entire row of showbag booths greeted us the moment we entered the Showground at about 12noon. We gawked and drooled at the many attractive showbags, extremely undecided as to which to purchase, and eventually decided to leave the showbag shopping til the end of the day.





After satisfying my craving for a cuppa, we studied the program sheet and map and planned our itinerary for the day. First stop was to catch the Yard Dog Demonstration presented by Purina Bonnie at The Overflow at 12.20pm. I got a seat on one of those haystacks and enjoyed my coffee while I watched the very impressive demonstration by the two working kelpie dogs, Rex and Ned. I saw this little girl wearing a very pretty tee with the words: 'I'm dreaming of another sunny day' and quickly took a snapshot of her.



Here's a snapshot of Rex the amazing kelpie prowling and staring at the sheep to make them back into the corner.



Here's a short video of the two hardworking dogs in action, helping their master organise the sheep.



We then took the Sunday Telegraph Animal Walk.



We passed this Sky View ferris wheel multiple times throughout the day. We weren't tempted to ride in it at all as it didn't look exciting at all. It was more of a slow family ride for an aerial view of the Showground.



Here's a view of the same ride from another angle. And as we walked, there were kids everywhere. Kids climbing trees...



Kids participating in sack races...



And kids carrying cool bags purchased from the showbag booths. I like the Wall-E showbag! But I won't have much use for the toys that come with the bag though and it would be quite a waste of money if I got one.



The entire Showground is really very family friendly. We saw designated pram parking areas everywhere we went.



We stopped by at The Barn for the Sheep Shearing Demonstration at 1pm but didn't get to see anything as it was overcrowded. We also just missed the Dairy Farmers Milking Session that took place at 12.30pm so we just hung around in The Barn taking pics of the baby calves napping against the fake landscape backdrops.



We then did a quick tour in the Fashion and Style Pavilion where there were lots of booths showcasing products made with local wool and natural fibres. Not our cup of tea so we quickly made our way to the next stop.



Next up was the poultry section. We were completely taken aback by the number of birds that greeted us as we stepped into the pavilion. The noise was migraine-inducing as all the humans, pigeons, roosters, hens, ducks, geese and turkeys tried to 'talk' at the same time. Another huge surprise was the rainbow-coloured pigeons we saw...



The chicks came in rainbow colours too...



Here's a close up of a blue chick. I tried to find some kind of literature at the Showground that explained these coloured birds but there was none. Beh Kee and I agreed that it's a really cruel thing to do (to modify these chicks) as wouldn't they be deemed as being different from the others and hence would possibly be treated as outcasts by their peers?



And check out this giant of a goose! Scary! Use that boy with a bandaged arm as a measuring gauge and you'll be able to appreciate the size of that bird. I also risked getting pecked to take a shot to show just how big that scary goose was.



We saw a lot of award winning pigeons too. They are really beautiful and come in so many different shapes, sizes and looks.



Those roosters were extremely big and fat!



And I found this hen that looked like a poodle very amusing. Apparently it's an Asian breed called Silkie.



I think they long to be freed out of those cramped cages. The more we walked along those rows upon rows of caged up birds, the more guilty we felt for us human's cruelty towards these poor birds.



There was also a display of the many types of eggs available, and their differences.



And a section on poultry art.



We were finally done with the poultry section and advanced towards the other livestocks sections. Along the way, I was really tempted to get a sweet corn to munch on. See how fresh they look? We saw people eating those corns everywhere, they must be damn good!



Mitch was playing live music to entertain the corn-eaters. One man, one guitar, one microphone, if you'd like to engage his entertainment services for parties and other whatnot events, feel free to call the number below.



Here's Beh Kee taking photos of the photogenic alpacas. I was quite scared they would spit at me, those notorious fellas.



Awww... what heartwarming family portraits... I wanna bring that baby alpaca home. As for the piglets... all they ever do is sleep!



On to the horses. There were hordes of helpers grooming these beauties either for the judging rounds, or the parades.



This handsome white horse just finished a round of judging. It was quite surreal seeing riders on horses all around us.



Such gentle eyes... and such cool snow-white eyebrows!



At about 1.30pm, we went to queue up for the Racing and Diving Pigs 2pm show but couldn't make it into the plaza due to the overwhelming crowd wanting to catch the pigs in action. So we went back again at 3pm to start queueing for the 4pm show. And yay we got in! Beh Kee saw a pig race in Brisbane before but never heard of diving pigs. As for me, I haven't seen a pig execute anything except for some continuous eating and sleeping stints. Hence, you could imagine our anticipation for this show.



I shall leave you with a video of the Racing and Diving Pigs for you to see for yourselves. You must watch the entire video as the best performance is towards the end.



After the very entertaining performance by the extremely clever pigs, we still had time to spare before the 5pm Royal Dog Show and the 6pm Woodchop, hence we charged to the Showbag Hall and was instantly flabbergasted by the vast selection of showbags available. If I were a parent with kids, I think I would go bankrupt buying showbags for the little ones. It was indeed a kid's paradise. Even I had to consciously tear myself away from the booths to prevent spending unnecessarily. I did get myself two showbags though. Heehee.





We got very distracted at the Showbag Hall and missed the Royal Dog Show altogether. Fortunately we still managed to catch the final few rounds of the Woodchop Contest. These guys are amazing! Beh Kee and I, watching this for the first time in our lives, were stunned beyond speech. Here's a short video of the contest that I managed to capture before my camera died on me.



As night fell, we made our way to the Coca Cola Carnival Grounds. OMG. The number of rides there! And all the games booths! As we had no more cash on us, we had to forego the rides. I was sorely disappointed! Beh Kee saw many people holding large husky dog plush toys (some were larger than life sized huskies!) earlier in the day and vowed to get one for herself no matter what. Hence, we went on an aggresive husky hunt at the games booths. We checked out each and every game booth that had the husky toy as a winning item.



Here's a spastic video of me trying to score at the basketball booth in order to win that husky plush toy. You can hear Beh Kee giving instructions in the background. (I must clarify I look 'wider' in the video than I actually am cos I rotated the video from a vertical clip to a horizontal one, hence the distortion!)



In the end, I spent $20 and Beh Kee spent $50 (or $40?) and we each only won a tiny plush toy. Mine is a little red bear that Beh Kee named 小红. I will write more on 小红's adventures next time. At 6.45pm, after grabbing a hot dog, we left for home with very sore feet.



I haven't had enough of the Easter Show! I wanna go again. If not this year, then next. And I will be sure to bring shitloads of cash to buy at least a dozen showbags, take every single ride there, play at every single game booth and to get at least one giant plush toy home!