Royal Melbourne Show

[kerravonsen]

I went to the Show today. Good news: my foot only aches a bit. And it didn't rain (there was even some sun at some points!). One could catalogue this event by what I ate, what I bought, and what I saw.

I didn't actually have a map of the showgrounds this time, and I would have needed it more, since things seemed to be in different places (apart from the permanent buildings like the Dairy Pavilion) due to what looked like construction (or destruction) there seemed to be one section of the showground walled off by fences and looked like a plain of dirt. Fortunately, there were really only three places I particularly wanted to go to: the Dairy Pavillion, the Arts and Crafts Pavillion, and the Safeway Food Pavillion. The first two were in fixed places, so knew what direction to go in to find them. And, fortunately, I'd only walked a little way through the chaos of the rides area (which seemed to have taken over the entrance) when I spotted the Safeway Food Pavillion, so I went there first.

Mind you, my attitude to going to the Show is to have just a couple of things I really want to see or do, and then counting everything else as a sort of bonus surprise. Makes for a much less stressful day.

The last couple of times I've been taking other people with me; this time it was just me. This also reduces stress, though it is nice to have someone to exclaim with. I shall just have to look on the bright side in each case.

I Ate:

1. Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce at Flinders Street station. Not, strictly speaking, Show stuff, but I was in holiday mode, I ate it. First stain on my shirt.
2. Sample of Buttermilk Chocolate, from the Safeway Food Pavillion.
3. A German-style Bretzel (pretzel). Plain and savoury. Yum!
4. Chocolate-coated strawberry. Now I can't remember whether that was in the Food Pavillion, or the Dairy Pavillion. It was delicious, anyway.
5. cheese cooked on toast, from the Dairy pavilion. It seems to be becoming a tradition for me.
6. I've forgotten the proper name for it; "dotty" ice-cream; frozen in tiny balls, eaten with a spoon. "Ice cream of the future". Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have taken on -- there used to be an outlet at Melbourne Central but it vanished a few years ago. I had some basically out of sentiment. It isn't going to replace real ice-cream. Completely different texture. I had the "banana split" and the "cookies-and-cream" flavour. The "cookies and cream" flavour actually had crushed-up Oreo cookies in it, which I'm not sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
7. Venison burger. Pretty lame. Second stain on my shirt.
8. Corn on the cob, hot, fresh, buttery -- delicious! It made up for the venison burger. This was bought in the "Pioneer" pavillion, which was a mixture of "country" food, crafts, clothes, soaps and stuff like that, with a few odd things as well. The very end of the pavillion had a couple of tractors in it.
9. fairy floss on a stick. It's tradition. Must be on a stick, freshly made.
10. chocolate milk, from the Dairy pavilion (I went back to it)
11. strawberry and award-winning boysenberry ice cream in a waffle cone, again from the Dairy Pavillion. After I finished this, I caught the train back to Flinders Street.
12. bottle of orange and rasberry juice at Flinders Street station. A mistake, since the juice was un-fresh enough that I tasted the bitterness of the orange. Oh well.

I Bought:

1. Jack Links showbag, full of yummy Beef Jerkey. This was equal top on my list of showbags to buy, so I was happy to find it in the Safeway Food Pavillion straight away.
2. 100g block of Cocoa Farm Buttermilk Chocolate. It just tasted so nice and creamy. I had been unsure whether I'd be getting a chocolate showbag, but after buying this (and my next purchase) and the fact that I'd bought a box of Limited Edition Lindor chocolate earlier this week (Milk, Coffee, Cinamon and Rasberry flavours, it was!) I figured there was no point in buying cheap inferior chocolate when I had so much nicer stuff already. Don't worry, I shall be rationing it.
3. Four blocks of "The Fudge Factory" handmade fudge. I had intended to buy only one, but they had a 4-for-$12 deal, so I gave in. The four flavours I got were Chocolate, Jaffa, Boysenberry and Choc-Mint. This also was in the Food Pavillion.
4. Timboon Cheese Showbag, in the Dairy Pavillion. The other showbag which was top on my list. It's almost tradition. This year it was Fetta, Fresh-Cheese-With-Herbs, and Brie, all organic, plus some wafer crackers to have with the cheese. I absolutely adore their Fresh-Cheese-With-Herbs; it's a very mild, soft, almost sweet cheese, rolled in a coating of herbs.
5. Small gripping pliers for beadwork. Bought this from a stand in the Arts and Crafts pavilion. The stand caught my eye because it was called "Running With Scissors"; they sold scissors, and jewelry/beadwork tools, the latter which caught my eye. I already have a pair of long-nosed pliers, but I thought a smaller pair would be useful for fine work. Might even get me doing some craft again.
6. An enormous, tacky, purple (and virulent orange) stuffed dragon. Because this is the Show, one buys silly things, and it was very purple, and it was only $20. I had a conversation with a small boy in the train on the way back to Flinders Street, who was also in posession of a similar dragon, though his was red and yellow. I came to the conclusion, after this conversation, that the dragon's name should be Violet, and that she needed to have some eyelashes grafted on, in order to demonstrate that she is a female dragon. Though I'm not sure whether I'm up to doing eyelash surgery.

I Saw:

1. The Arts and Crafts show. I always love seeing this. Very impressive stuff. Lovely patchwork, and tapestry, crafts and beadwork and eggshell work, and of course the incredible cake-decorating.

   Unfortunately, I have no idea if any of my photos will come out, because the battery in my camera started fading after I took my first picture or two. That will teach me not to recharge it every time (sigh). I nearly didn't bring the camera at all; I'd put it in it's carry-bag (cleverly looking non-camera-like since it's the con-id bag from ConJose (of which I was a supporting member), probably one of the most useful con artefacts I've gotten from a con, ranked along with the nice canvas bags from Highlander Downunder and from LA-Con III. Anyway, I'd put it in its bag, but forgot to put the bag in my backpack, and didn't remember this until I'd crossed the road on the way to the bus stop, so I turned around and dashed back home and got it.

2. A glimpse of some horses doing dressage in the distance as I sat in a stand eating my venison burger. This was part of the evidence of construction, since this stand wasn't in front of a ring; the ring was truncated, with temporary fences around it. So I saw them in the distance. I was sitting in the stand because there wasn't enough seating in the food area. The stand was dilapidated, worn, with bird droppings on some of the seats. I expect it's Doomed.
3. Some sheep and geese (and a few sleepy goats) in the Pioneer pavillion. Tried taking some photos of the geese, but I don't think they came out.
4. Brief foray into the sheep pavillion and looked at some alpacas and the prize-winning fleeces, though I'm not sure what made them prize-winning.
5. Peered into the Wood-cutting pavillion and saw a guy chop a log in half in 17 strokes. From the applause, this was apparently impressive.
6. The World of Pets. Saw a long line of pigeons, and looked at some of the cats. There was a stage, where they were doing sort of demonstrations with various pets; when I came in, they were doing reptiles (some lizards, and some pythons), and then later they did cats. I touched one of the pythons they were bringing around; quite cool and smooth, rather pleasant. Yes, I do not hate snakes. Snakes are more interesting than lizards, anyway. They had some absolutely gorgeous Bengal kittens, delightful. Just go "Aw" with me. They, of course, were older than astrogirl2's new kitten.
7. Sat down (on the ground) and listened to some live country music. Unfortunately they'd already been playing for a while, so I only heard about four songs before they finshed. Still, it was pleasant.

   For one of the songs one of the guys was playing the spoons, which, fangirl that I am, made me think of the 7th Doctor, and wondered who had actually invented spoon-playing, and whether there could be a story in which the 7th Doctor actually invented it in an anachronistic manner. Of course, I could be remembering it wrong, but I am fairly certain that the 7th Doctor is supposed to be able to play the spoons. Can anyone here confirm that?

Here endeth the expedition.

Comments

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly certain one of the Doctors did have some spoons, but I'm not sure which.

I was confused when you talked about the Show last year, but now I see: it's like our State Fairs. It sounds like you had a good time. :)

[kerravonsen]

Yes, it probably is like a State Fair, not that I've ever been to a State Fair to compare. Once a year, and the timing is staggered so that it's at a different time of year for each State. In Sydney it's at Easter time, so it's called the Royal Easter Show. In Brisbane, they don't call it the Show, they call it the Exhibition (or Ekka for short). They actually have a public holiday in the middle of the show, the Wednesday, for people to go to the show on, it's officially called "People's Day", but it's usually called Ekka Day. Though who knows whether they still have it; they did when I lived there as a kid, anyway.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Spoons (http://www.richardwho.com/collections/collection156.asp)

[kerravonsen]

Thanks!