Show Time!

Monday 16th September, 2013

On Friday evening we met up with Kahra, Katie and Maddi.  It has been weeks since Katie has stayed so I was really looking forward to having her for the weekend.  Maddi was coming for the weekend as well.

After having some dinner at Vili's we came home.  I was hoping for an early night as Saturday was going to be a long, tiring day. While watching some TV I picked up my crocheting and the girls wanted to learn how to do it.  Maddi picked it up very quickly, Katie didn't have the patience.

Saturday morning the girls were up early.  Tony had to go into work for a few hours and we had to catch the bus into town to meet up with him. We were all going to the Show. Saturday was the last day for the Show and the weather turned out to be very nice.....lots of sunshine, no wind and perfect temperatures.

We left the car at work and caught the bus to the Showgrounds. We got there around 11.30am. We wandered around the craft hall and admired some of the plants, cake decorating, photographic exhibition, cooking and scrapbooking pages.

The girls were very interested in the Ambulance display and spent time listening to some real life emergencies.  The paramedic was very impressed with what the girls had picked up.....what to do when a person is having a heart attack.  Let's hope they remember what to do if they ever encounter a person having a heart attack.

From here we went into the showbag hall and the girls selected the showbags that they were going to buy.......Katie went for Girlfriend, Lil Miss Diva, Freddo Frog, Caramello Bear and Hubba Bubba Gum.  Maddi decided on Freddo Frog, Caramello Bear, Willy Wonka and Wizz Fizz.

Katie 'met' up with her idol.......Harry from the boy band 'One Direction'

Then it was time to hit the rides.  Their first ride was Gravitron and then onto the Disco ride.  

We had arranged to mix up the rides with a wander around the Show but soon discovered that wasn't going to happen.  I never got to see any of the animal exhibits except for the dogs and pig racing.

The girls decided that they needed one of those extra large drink sippers. They were filled with soft drink.  Katie looks more like she's playing an instrument rather than having a drink.....LOL

Their next stop was a ride on the Roller Coaster.  

We walked through the dog pavillion. Maddi was hoping to see some German Shepherds as she has one and a Beagle at home. Different days of the Show see different breeds and unfortunately on Saturday there were no German Shepherds or Beagles.  Instead they had breeds I had never heard of.  The breeds that I did know included St Bernards, Shihtzu's, Sharpei's  and Maltese.

One thing I wanted to see this year was the Pig Racing.  We were way too early for the next show and so the girls decided they wanted to have another ride.  

But first they had to have something to eat.

We made our way to The Hangover and they paid $15 each to have unlimited rides. This ride rocked backwards and forwards until it reached the top, flipped them upside down, came down and went full circle again.  It had me dizzy just watching it.

Katie doesn't look too well but as soon as this ride finished she asked to go again

On the other hand Maddi was having a blast

After 3 consecutive rides on this we made our way over to the 9-D Cinema.  Tony and the girls went in to have a look but when they came out they all said it was a big disappointment. 

It was now time to go back to the Pig Racing.  The crowds had gathered and it was impossible to find a seat.  The girls went and sat on the ground while Tony and I stood.  Just before the pigs came out a guy impersonating Elvis came out and sang a few songs. He picked out the girls from the crowd and had them play "air guitar" with their sippers.

He wanted to give away one of his CD's.  He asked a few people in the crowd and the girls to join him in the middle.  To win the CD they had to dance to some of his songs. The girls didn't win the CD (that went to Spiderman) but he did give them a voucher for some donuts.

The actual pig racing was a disappointment.  The highlight was 2 pigs diving into a tank of water.  Their 'trainer' was a cute little boy aged about 4/5 years old and he had so much charisma he easily won the crowd over.

When the pigs finished we went for a wander into one of the pavilions.  It was filled with tastings of various food produced by the people from this State.  Some of the foods included cakes, chocolates. toffees, fudge, fresh pasta, Indian food, olive oil, fruit straps and oranges.  There was also wine tasting from various boutique wineries.

No prizes for guessing what we did next.  It was back to the rides and this time the girls went on the Space Roller.  This ride had six arms and each arm twisted, spun and rolled.  When Katie got off she declared, "that was the best ride ever!"   From here it was back to the Hangover for more rides.

Sky Roller

As I suffer with a bad back and I had forgotten to bring some pain killers with me, by now I was suffering.  All I wanted to do was sit down and rest and so we convinced the girls to go and have some dinner.  Maybe Tony and I should have got our meals first.  By the time we had been served the girls were finished their meal and were ready to go again.  However they did allow us to eat our dinner and even have a cup of coffee.

Our next activity was the Bungee Trampoline. It cost $15 each for them to have a go.  To me it was a waste of money as both girls have trampolines at home.  The only difference was that they were attached to a harness which allowed them to do front and back flips.

From here it was another ride on the Space Roller and then the Hangover.  The Hangover turned out to be the best value for money.  By paying just $15 each the girls ended up having 10-12 rides on it.  Most of the other rides were either $8 or $10.

Their final rides for the night were the Crazy Coaster........

The Sky Flyer.......

Waiting to be lifted 100 metres in the air

Their very last ride was the Rock N Rolla......

and I was happy that it was all over and both girls walked away unscathed.  These girls must have cast iron stomachs. What with all the rocking, twisting and spinning they never once felt queasy. 

By now it was after 10.00pm and so we made our way back to catch the bus into the city and get the car.  They both declared that they "had the best day EVER!" We arrived home after 11.00pm and the girls checked out their showbags.  Happy with what was in them they went off to bed and asleep shortly afterwards.  Tony and I soon followed.

Sunday morning when I woke up my back was still very sore.  I took things very slowly until the pain killers kicked in.  We ended up going to St. Kilda playground.  Don't these girls know how to sit quietly and relax especially after such a full on day yesterday?. No such words as quiet and relax in their vocabulary apparently.

After St Kilda it was onto Largs where we ended up having a late lunch.  It was a warm day but extremely windy.  We walked down the jetty and when we reached the end it was very windy.  There were a few people fishing but not catching anything. How they could throw out the line I don't know. 

From here we went to meet Kahra, drop the girls off and then back home to just relax.  We too had had a great weekend watching the girls enjoying themselves.  Tony even admitted he would have liked to have joined them on a couple of the rides if he were a few years younger.