The Armidale Show!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Sunday, 20 March 2011 22:46
During the week Pete and Ami had been in touch and were heading north, so we invited them to say with us as we had a spare room, so they came up on Friday. They picked Ben up from work, and were here when I got home, and we all went to get a Thai takeaway which was yummy! We played cards late into the night and had a great evening!
The next day we all had a nice lie in, and then got up and had bacon sarnies for breakfast. We went to the Armidale show not really knowing what to expect! After eventually finding a parking space, we found out it was $10 each to get in, was not expecting that! We all decided to go anyway, and managed to cheekily wangle getting in on a 'family ticket' for $25 altogether which made it a lot cheaper! One of the first things we saw was a man riding a large cow 
(or was it a bull?) all dressed up, complete with massive heart sunglasses! The cow/bull didn't seem too impressed and was rather vocal, and was frothing at the mouth, crazy! The 'show' was a mixture of old agricultural show stuff, and a fairground with lots of crazy rides! We found ourselves in a room full of all sorts of birds in cages with first and second prize cards next to them. There were loads! We had a look at all the pretty birds and then moved into the next room where there were cages from floor to ceiling full of all sorts of chickens and ducks! We saw some of the weirdest chickens ever, the strangest one was called a 'silky'. We also saw the biggest fatest duck I have ever seen! We had read on the poster that there was going to be duck and pig racing, so we set off to find out when this would be!
We found the Show office and found out that the duck and pig racing was on quite often during the day, so off we went to find the duck racing! I didn't really know what to expect, but it was crazy! The poor ducks had coloured ribbons around them, and the course was an obstacle course made up from all sorts of stuff, including a children's slide! I
t took ages for the commentator to get the ducks into the cage to start them off, but once they were all in, he let them all out and off they went! It was so funny to watch! They all followed each other, although one went off on his own occassionally, and went over the see-saw, up and down the slide and through the rest of the race course! They did a few laps and I think the blue one won! Certainly an experience! 
After the duck racing we found some gorgeous little chicks and were allowed to have a little cuddle to keep them warm as their warming bulb had broken, which was lovely! We then saw a Reptile Show, by a man 
who goes around to schools and shows presenting a show mostly about snakes. It was very interesting, and I learnt what to do if I came across a snake which I did not know! Apparently you should 'freeze!', I would probably have guessed that you walk away slowly and quietly, but that is not right! He had some snakes with him and bought them round for us to touch, and it felt surprisingly smooth and not slimy! After we'd heard enough about snakes we headed over to the pig racing! We were there in time to be given a raffle ticket each, and found out that if you were picked out you chose a pig to 
support, and named it! Ben's raffle ticket was picked!!! He picked the red one, and named it Pookie Macademus (surprise surprise!), however, the lady asked him for a shorter name as she would have to shout it out when commentating! It was decided he would be called Macky! We were all shouting for Macky, who was winning to begin with, however, he got pushes aside by the bigger piggies and came third in the end! The first prize was a token for a children's ride, and second and third prizes were ice-creams, so we were rather pleased that we did not come first in the end! The voucher gave us two free ice creams, so off we went for our treat, one per couple! We then went to check out the 'wood chopping', expecting to see some hunky ment chopping wood! We were a little disapppointed as most of the men were a bit old, but the action was fun to watch! They had to chop a piece of wood, and we think they were judged on time taken, as well as how it looked by the end. We also had a wonder through the hut that had the vegetables on show that had been judged, and the photography exhibition which was pretty good! We had a wonder around the rides, but didn't fancy the look of any of them, and they were all super expensive! On our way out we had a plate of dutch pancakes with chocolate sauce and cream, yummy! 
smoking so bad you couldn't see the other cars, and most of them got a lot more smashed up than when they started! It was also really muddy because of all the rain we've been having, so they were slipping and sliding all over! It was great fun to watch and certainly an experience I won't forget! After it was all over you could go and see the cars, so we went to have a look at the state of them! We got rather muddy! When we got home we played cards and had another late night, playing until 2 in the morning! 
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