Month: April 2012

Australia · autumn · cakes · happiness · son · traditions

The Sydney Royal Easter Show

Joanne11 Comments

 

Agricultural displays, painstakingly created to show off the produce of an area.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show Begins Today! And oh, how I wish I were there.

Age doesn’t matter, really it doesn’t. The buzz of the Sydney Easter Show is incomparable to any other show I’ve been to.

The Buzz of the Easter Show is not confined to the bee hives!

It’s the atmosphere, the people, the events, the rides, the show bags, the wood chopping events, the domestic and farm animals, the food, sideshow alley,  the art, the displays….

The Central District's display

Nothing ever grows old at the Sydney Show. Last Easter my youngest son Adam and I took a trip to Sydney to go to the show. For Adam, it was his first time; for me, the umpteenth time.

I fell in love with the very realistic scowl on this baby dolls face!

Rain on the day didn’t dampen my spirits, we just took an umbrella. And the simple fact that we were in Sydney was thrilling enough for Adam. He has spent so little time in this great city, which I intend rectifying over the next few years, before he becomes too mature and too cool to travel with his mum!

Here he is again with some friends.

We had planned on going back to Sydney for this year’s Easter Show, but unfortunately business commitments are keeping me tied to the Tweed area during April.

Look at the detail in the decorations on these cakes!

But I can do the next best thing, and show you some photos taken at last year’s show.

Here's the Western Districts display, featuring the Australian Coat of Arms.

The district agricultural displays are an incredible sight. I don’t think that my photos really do them justice. The amount of creativity that goes into these displays is unbelievable.

The judging of the fruit cakes is over. What a delicious job!

You will notice, however, that wood chopping photos are missing, along with the animals and the rides, all outdoor events, in fact. And my camera isn’t waterproof (remember, it was a rainy day).

The fruitiest of fruit cakes hardly have any cake to hold the fruit together!

The show bag pavilion is also noticeably missing for a different reason. Our hands were too full of show bags, and gifts we had bought to take home to the family, to be able to juggle the camera into photo taking position!

The busy bees have done their bit, and the judges results are in.

I found a very informative Wikipedia site, (link added here)which shows some of the outdoor events at the show. I was also interested to read that the show began in 1823, is the largest event in Australia, which comes as no surprise, and is the sixth largest in the world.

Even south-east Queensland has a produce display.

Adam will only be fifteen next Easter and I’m sure it won’t take too much convincing for him to head off to the Sydney Easter Show with me again. Heck, if he doesn’t want to go, I’ll go alone! 🙂

 

 

freedom · friends · son

Leaving on a Jet ‘Plane

Joanne7 Comments
When you were a little boy, did you ever dream of the countries you would visit one day?

He’s leaving on a jet ‘plane this morning. He’ll be at the Brisbane airport now; his luggage will have been checked and probably loaded onto the plane. He’ll also probably be on the plane himself, sitting with two of his best mates from his childhood.

Have they been allocated good seats? Who else will be on board the plane, taking the twenty-two hour flight with them? Will he enjoy the movies he watches? His only concern about his entire trip was the flight there and the flight home again.

No, no, don’t get me wrong, he loves air travel, that’s not his concern; it’s the boredom; it’s the wasted days.

“Try to focus on the adventure ahead of you, of seeing a whole new country on the other side of the world”, his father had suggested. “That will make the flight seem shorter.”

The clock on the mantelpiece strikes 11 am. Is the ‘plane running to schedule? Is he comfortably sitting aboard the plane, perhaps in a window seat, watching as the ground races past his window and the ‘plane takes off, lifting higher and higher, the ground becoming smaller and smaller?

When I speak with my blogging friends in the U.S.A. why is it that they feel so close to me, yet when my son is taking the twenty-two hour flight to the other side of the world, it suddenly feels as if he is going to another planet?

Travel safe, my boy. Enjoy your adventure. Make the most of the trip that you and your mates have planned for months.

Your room will be waiting here for you when you return. I will be so excited as the days draw nearer to your return home, just as I have done when you have travelled overseas before.

Why didn’t Japan or Sri Lanka seem so far away? I believe I am only taking on board your concerns as my own. But haven’t I always done that?

The “Big Apple” awaits you, my son; your five-week adventure begins today. xxxxxx

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