This was amongst the first things we did when we first arrived in oz last year, and we both have bittersweet memories of that event - it was cold and wet, not very busy and we kept seeming to miss all the good stuff. I think we went on the worst possible days last year.
However, this year was superb. First off, the weather was perfect. Clear blue skies, very warm in the sun, but a lovely cooling breeze. And they have completely renovated the showgound - many new pavillions, completely revamped the arena too. The main food hall that showcases local produce - ice cream, wine, cheeses, healthfoods, chocolates, etc, etc. was a brand new millenium-dome like structure that was vast - we had so much fun going from stall to stall trying all the local red wines. And they are very generous with the free samples!
We tried a barrage of different cheeses too, and I really got to appreciate the mix of wine with cheese - they all tasted so wonderful! And I got to try something different - one stall asked me which wine I had just tried, and matched it with a local honey of all things. Wow, it was a taste sensation, mixing the fruity aftershock of a Gippsland Pinot Noir with a rich Leatherwood honey was almost divine!
Next, we visited the dogs section. The show runs for a week, and during that time, there are competitions of pretty much every breed under the sun, but on the saturday, all the group winners compete head to head for the best in show awards.
There is a huge hall with probably 1,000 stalls for al the dogs and their owners, and the public are allowed to wander around and coo over all the cute ones. We spent nearly an hour wandering around stroking the dogs and we saw the most gorgeous boxer we've seen since Jemmy!
We have a movie of her, but is a bit blurry, but suffice to say she had virtually the same boisterous nature as the jemster, it was lovely to see. She had actually won best of breed in the competition.
After further cooing over various breeds, including the stunning Weimaraner (my favourite breed by the way) we headed towards the agriculture pavillion, and on the way we found what was billed as "Pig Racing and Diving". What was this, I thought. The show was ten minutes off, so we grabbed a couple of seats and I went on a drinks pitsop. The show started with a very surreal show consisting of giant mechanical koala bears playing in a band. Very odd indeed. However, this turned out to be just the warm up. In front of us was a large 'U' shaped circuit with a set of stalls similar to thos you'd see at a greyhound racing track.
The meastro came on, and after many minutes of bigging it all up, introduced the pigs! they were fairly young, and were uncerimoniously herded into the stalls, and after much hype, they were positively chomping at the bit and at the blow of the whistle shot out of the cages and it was over.... or so we thought. A minute or two later, the meastro came back out and described the strange looking contraption in front of us, inside the 'U' shaped track. It was a long plank, leading up about 8ft in the air, about 5 feet from a large water tank. Suddently, a little pink flash shot along the plank, didn't even hesitate, and leapt off the edge over five feet and dived head long into the tank! It was so fast, I barely cought it on camera! 
And with that, the piggy show was over! Very surreal really.
We then headed to our inteded destination, and went to the farm animal nursery, where there was a huge pen with dozens of sweet little lambs, piglets, chooks, and so on, and we could go in and pet the animals, whilst trying to avoid them crapping on you! what fun! There was one lamb that was very cool - he looked like a lamb, but old and wise at the same time - helen and I both thought he was worth a pic - check out his beard!
The evening was soon upon us, and having already devoured our bacon butties some hours ago, we decided to find some grub, and settle down to watch the evening events - namely the monster truck, freestyle motorcross, daredevil acrobats, outback adventure, and fireworks! Suffice to say, they were all very good fun, except perhaps the acrobats.
They consited of a Father-Daughter combo, and she started procedings. With the use of a very large crane, she was suspended at the height of 150ft on a trapeze, and wowed the crowd with her highly flexible body swinging and swirling through the sky. this lasted a few minutes, then the crane was lowered for ther father to join her. His performance was simply breathtaking. attched to the top of the crane was a 5 meter pole-vaulters pole with a special hand grip on the top. He climbed to the top and swayed all over the place as the crane reached the dizzying heights again. With his daughter below counterbalancing him, he performed all manner of gravity defying trick - standing atop the pole, he swayed from side to side - a massive 10ft either side of upright - first while standing, then amazingly on one hand! Please note here that these people had no safety nets, no security wires, nothing to stop them from falling to their certain death. I was captivated and amazed, while helen just couldn't watch! I was genuinely on the edge of my seat. The truly amazing thing was that the father was no spring chicken - he's been doing these death defying stunts for over 60 years - he was 71 years old! Stunning. Have a look at their website - there is a breif video of their act.
http://www.flyinglotahs.com/crane.htm
So that was the end to a great day out, we'll definitely go again... if only to see the flying pigs
C
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