Thursday, September 23, 2010

Royal Melbourne Show, 2010

Here are the things I'd like to tell you about from today's visit to The Royal Melbourne Show:

1. Bogans (or Showgans as Jenny told me is the name for bogans who go to the show) just don't care what they look like. It occurred to me too late to try and take some snaps of the sort of outfits that assaulted my eyes all morning, but good grief! No shame.

2. The Climber tried some much scarier rides this year and seemed to enjoy them, but he is definitely NOT what you'd call a hardcore thrillseekin' extreme type of 9yo. Thank goodness.

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Fixit took him on the roller-coaster after this ride; my guess is that of the two of them, it was Fixit who enjoyed that ride the most.

3. The Cherub made me buy fairy floss, took one mouthful and handed it back saying he didn't like it. I may have mentioned before that he is a rather fussy eater? Luckily we had not yet bought a stick for the fairy-floss-loving big brother, so waste not want not. (Fixit scored the rest of Cherub's little friend's floss, who liked it but found it too intense about a third of the way into it.)

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4. The best of the free entertainment was the Oliver's Swiss High Diving Show especially the fiery finale.

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(I just like this photo of the kids watching it.)

The kids also enjoyed the Aus Freestyle Trials, but I was mildly disappointed that they said they weren't going to do any of their super awesome tricks because they were saving them for later in the day. That's discrimination against very young kids who were probably only there for the morning, I reckon. Not that they seemed to mind, the tricks we saw were still really good.

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5. All the kids in our posse seemed to have no concept that you could go into the pavilions and have a look at stuff. They're all about the carnival, clearly, our children. Taking a shortcut through the Grand Pavilion caused great confusion in the Under 10s. I think I'll try and rectify this next year with my kids, may have to separate from the friends to do this though... The exception to this Ignoring the Pavilions thing was of course the Animal Nursery, only because they know the drill by now. Nobody gets on a ride or does anything carnival-like until they've petted and admired some baby animals, thus:

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6. Still managed to get out of there with one $5 showbag per child. Freddo Frog, natch. We love our Freddo Frog Showbag.

7. As per my resolution from last year, I went on the Giant Slide. I'm in the purple lane.



It was awesome.

Full photo set here

19 comments:

  1. I was deeply disturbed by the proliferation of leggings as pants. Lycra alone is not everyone's friend.

    Well done to the sliders. Did you pay extra for the purple lane?

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  2. God, I love that slide.

    And carousel thingy where you ride on swings.

    Awesome.

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  3. Oh I so love the show, and I can't go - sigh. I have to live vicariously through all the lovely bloggy reports. Yah for that giant slide. Now that looks like fun!

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  4. there is HEAPS of free food to taste in the giant pavilion, we had muffins, ham, the odd bit of obligatory fruit, honey, lollies, chips, duhkah and ice cream to name a few. if you're not too fussy about food combinations you can eat like a king, or queen. Or princess.

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  5. That looked like so much fun!

    I have a question for you you. "Fairy Floss"-is that the same as cotton candy? If not, then what is it?

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  6. Sounds exactly like our State and County fairs here! Complete with rides and baby animals and pavilions.....And FOOD! Minnesota's State Fair was/is famous for their deep fried cheese curds...Would you like a heart attack with that Ma'am? And most of them, [Minnesotans love their cheese curds so much] would likely say "Yeah, you betcha!"

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  7. Looks like you had a great time!

    On the up side, you have 12 months to perfect your "getting off the big slide mat in a ladylike manner" routine. :)

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  8. Bundles, I think they are the same thing.
    Aunty - did I nail it?

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  9. Is it you who does the little squeal on the last bump? And Fixit who says $3 for 17 seconds?

    I love that slide.

    Re the pavilions, I can't get my boys into the handcrafts pavilion any more, but they will happily look at the cake decorating exhibitions (and the jams, breads, scones, cakes etc) so that's an overall win I reckon. Oh and the animal pavilions - the dogs, poultry, cows, etc. The pigs are usually a hit too.

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  10. I think you know the answer to that, don't you? :)

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  11. Well, I didn't flash my undies so I'm calling it on the ladylike side of the equation, and yes that was Fixit with the conversion of joy into monetary value...

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  12. Rob would have said something similar. He does look at price per ounce when we are shopping after all.

    Brilliant on the slide you! It does look awesome. I bet the purple one was the best slider of all too.

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  13. No undies on slide = WIN.
    Purple Lane = DOUBLE WIN.
    I love that you were in the purple lane and that Fixit taped your 17 seconds of joy! Do you know I forgot that the show was even on? Daft. We always go to the Geelong Show instead, it's a lot smaller and easier to manage with the little kids. I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have to have them strapped bodily to me in order to keep track of them! Melbourne Show 2015, look out.

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  14. Love the expression on Climber's face in the fairy floss shot!

    I suspect that some of the bogan outfits you were assailed with were similar to those I was assailed with in the City on Fri in the aftermath of the Grand Final Parade. Tight threadbare leggings, thongs and a football jumper do not a proper outfit make.

    Definitely can't go wrong with the purple lane on the slide!

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  15. Oh I so wish you'd taken some pics of the offensively dressed showgans (love that).

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  16. 1. Sydney easter show fashion is dominated by NRL jerseys and darts club t-shirts.
    2. I discovered my 10yo is just.the.right.age for the rides. Little daredevil.
    3. You have the same showbag approach as us - just one. You did way better than us on price. I bow to your ingenuity.
    4. Excellent job on getting the purple lane.
    5. Fairy floss is how dentists pay for their holidays. Toffee fills up their super funds.
    6. the pavillions are the best thing. Did you get the world's largest horse this year?

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  17. The look on that goat's face is just ridiculously wonderful.
    From: Possibly, a Bogan. Or maybe a Hick.
    p.s. I love seeing pics of your cat!!

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  18. Victoria, did you leave the show with your child's stroller completely submerged in showbags while your child walked beside you with an enormous toy machine gun as you lit a cigarette and said come here you little @#$%? That's my definition of a true bogan.

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Don't let the cat get your tongue.