EKKA 08

The Royal Queensland Show is a very big event in Brizzie and its affectionately known as the ‘Ekka’. I have no idea why, though. I guess Aussies are strange that way. They abbreviate and shorten everything and make it sound completely different at the same time.

The Ekka is the Agricultural equivalent to the Olympics. It started off as a small fair for farmers or something like that and since then grew into what it is today: a sports ground/animal show/carnimal/theme park/cultural exhibition/free publicity for major corporations… etc…

Anyways, i went with a couple of friends and we were expecting some sort of exaggerated picnic ground but it was HUUUUUUUUGEE. The place they used for the Ekka used to be this gargantuan, empty piece of land called the ‘Exhibition’. Ever since i’ve got here i’ve only seen that area left idle (but that may be because i don’t get out much). But seriously, you could get lost for days there. Perhaps thats why the first booth we saw after we purchased our tickets was a ‘Lost Children Booth’. No joke. (Sorry guys. No pic.) There was a guy at the entrance shouting ‘Tag your children! Get the tags over here and fill in the parents phone numbers! Tag your children!’ I was so dazed at the time i didn’t even find it funny.

Being a bunch of adolescents, we naturally gravitated towards the theme park section which was funny because most of the rides were gravity-defying. (OK. Lame joke i know.) But seriously, the rides were AWESOME. Some guarranteed you won’t be able to hold your lunch down after going on it. So it probably was a good thing we chose to starve before attempting any of em. I went on one. Take a look. See if you can find me.

Check out how 'shioked' out i was!

I can’t believe i actually went on it let alone keep my stomach inside me. I didn’t puke! Mum you must be so proud. But after this ride, we didnt have what it took to go on more death-defying throws into the air. I couldnt handle anymore adrenaline rushes. But this wasn’t enough for my pals so they went on a few more little adventure rides.

BUMPER CARS! How mature!

This was actually the worst ride. Even though its the least scary one.

So that was our little ‘letting-our-hair-down’ session. Our sanity was questionable at the time but at least all our limbs are still intact. Haha. But even after that we still needed a ‘cooling down’ session so we went on the Ferris wheel thing next. Admittedly it was also because we kept getting lost and the ferris wheel would let us see the whole place. Well, that was the plan anyways. Didn’t work because we were too hyper to pay attention.

Ferris wheel by day...

Ferris wheel by night... We chould have gone on it at night. Waaaaaay cooler!

I don’t actually remember the day turning dark. I guess we were all too preoccupied with the show bags and shows and everything. There was really a LOT to see. And DO.

Women on stilts.

Check out my tattoo!

Yup! Mum! I got myself a tat!! Hahahaha. A temporary one. It was supposed to last a week at least but the crappy thing came off when i sweat. LOL. But u gotta admit, it looked pretty cool while it lasted didnt it? Check out my other one!

My glitter gecko!

And one more thing weird at the Ekka. They’ve got these painted statues of cows everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. I KNOW it’s an agricultural show but it is still pretty weird don’t you think? I thought it was some sort of special trademark thing so i decided to take a picture of one (as shown below):

When i did, people kept giving me these weird stares. I was thinking, ‘Yeah, i know it’s a cow. There’s tons of it about. I want a picture of it. Deal with it.’ But when i zoomed in closer… guess what i discovered?

Zoomed in cow.

Yep. Of all the 427 cows there, i took a picture of this one. I sure know how to pick ‘em.

But i got over the embarassment as soon as i found the ‘International Cuisine’ section. Was i pleased! I didn’t even realised i was sooo hungry until i saw all the food being displayed. Eventhough some of ‘em were a little too weird exotic to my liking. It was one of the toughest decisions of my life, deciding what to eat. They were all too inviting but i have to admit, one of the stalls stood out above the rest.

I always suspected Africa had cannibalistic roots! Lol.

But it was not the highlight of my night. They had a wonderful fireworks display at the end of the day. I wish i could’ve recorded that but my camera batt very conveniently chose to die on the at that exact moment. Got me a little peeved actually. The fact that i manage to record the preliminary events of the closing ceremony placated me a little. LOL! It was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parachuters from the army. I couldn't get a pic of them in the air. It was too dark.

One of 'em did it with an Australian flag. How patriotic. (It WAS during the Olympics)

Ute racing. It's an Aussie thing.

Monster truck show.

Yea.. the pics are pretty blur because its so far away and so dark. And the cars were so super fast. I’m surprised i actually got em. The videos are way better but somehow wordpress isn’t letting me put them on. I wish you can see them but most of all… YOU SHOULD’VE BEEN THERE! Especially for the Motorcross thing. I’m a big fan now. Thanks to the Ekka. I’m definitely going back next year so i gotta start saving. LOL.