Toowoomba Show Day

Thursday, 10 April was a holiday for us in Toowoomba. Apparently every (most?) councils (towns) in Australia have a fair of some sort and if it falls on a work day, it becomes a holiday in that area. So the 2008 Toowoomba Royal Show started on Thursday, so we decided that to have a sense of what this area is about we should visit the show. We had to do a little shopping so the plan was for us to do the shops in the morning and the Show in the afternoon and stay as long as we liked (it ended at 9PM with firework). So it was off to the shops to find first one, K-mart—still going strong here—was closed, as was the second, third, etc. Toowoombans take their Show Day seriously, it would appear, but giving almost everyone the day off. Shopping Malls, grocery stores, department stores, most restaurants, banks, of course, were all closed for the holiday.

The show was a like a US county fair. We were able to see the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd place winners for garden vegetables, plants, flower arrangements, cake decorating, quilting, bread making, wool, cattle, singing, etc., etc. A highlight was watching Fred and Mable demonstrate how to make sausages at the "Ye old Butcher Shoppe" show. It might have been more interesting if the machine had actually worked, but as it was I never Fred was aware that I had all I could do to keep from laughing out loud and risk getting through out of the fairgrounds all together. When the rains began we were able to find a nice cup of tea. We decided to not stay for the evening show as we were a little wet and cold and the promise of the "Largest Fireworks Display in Toowoomba History" was not enough to keep us in damp seats.

On the way out of the parking lot I had to drive out through a patch field with no grass on a slight hill and promptly found myself "bogged" or stuck in mud. Well, not completely stuck, I was able to slide sideways quite easily. After help from the volunteer parking attendants who suggested I back down to another way out of the lot. I think they got a kick out of the "Yank" who couldn't drive properly.

We enjoyed our evening at home.