Part 4 of our trip to the 'Ekka'...now what else did we see?

I thought that I might have a ride in SideShow Alley this year, but ended up just walking through and watching others!

In the middle of the photo was a most scary looking ride that only took 8 people at a time...4 on each end. And then these riders were flung around madly! and people pay to be terrified?????

We walked to the main arena as Show ring 1 is now described. Unfortunately the sheepdog trials were over. I loved those when I was a child and had looked forward to enjoying them again. There really wasn't much happening in the main ring...

This event was just finishing as we sat down...

This historic old grandstand used to cost money to sit in...so as a girl  I had never entered it! lol Nowadays there is no charge to sit in this stand.

We had already been to the large marquee that was being used as a temporary showbag pavillion but the queues were horrific; so long! After we had left the seating area at the main ring, we wandered over to see how long the queue was for showbags. There was no queue so DH and I went in to get him a showbag. After much consideration DH bought the $6 Crunchie bag and instaed of buying the Darrell Lea bag for $15, he just bought a packet  of their  liquorice.

Then we headed back to the grandstand to watch some of the evening's proceedings.

Just had to take a photo of the giant inflatable cow; 'Dairy Farmers' was a big sponsor of the show. (Note the dais in the ring...we figured something was going to happen)

The clown riding this steer ; this beast was just so well behaved/trained. It tolerates a saddle plus this guy standing on its back. It also was able to canter!!!

 When the clowns had finished entertaining the crowd, it was announced that the Governor, her Excellency Penny Wensley, would be performing the opening ceremony for the 2012 Show. First came the army band...

Then out marched the Federation Guard (formed in 2000 and based in Canberra)...

Then came the Governor's beautiful blue car, escorted by some mounted police. And all the time the military band played....

I love the occasional pomp and pageantry and I sure enjoyed this!