We left Robe in the dark to get to the South West Field Day in Lucinvale 1.5 hrs away. We don’t usually drive in the dark or at dawn/dusk as we don’t like to hit animals on the road but we wanted to get to the show by 8 and there was no good camp to leave the van at, so we took it with us. The drive was gorgeous as most of the way the fields were filled with a thick mist, so only the tops of the trees were sticking out as the sun came up. It was about 7 degrees. By midday is was 31 deg C. You start the day totally rugged up and then progressively strip off. M
We were invited to the field day by Marion the farmer from the bird museum. It was like the Royal Easter Show but bigger, but it was for farmers not for city people. No rides or showbags . Plenty of junk food unfortunately. It is all meat and carbs out here. Vegetables and fruit are like an oasis. I did find a stand selling organic apples and some really nice juice. If you wanted to see the best in big farm equipment, this was the show for you. It was interesting for us to see.
The very BEST thing about the show was “Kelpie corner”. Here there was a cattle yard set up and the Yard dog championships took place all day. You could sit on a bale of hay and watch all day. It was fascinating seeing how well a man and a dog can work together to control a group of sheep. They all had a slightly different way to communicate with their dogs and the dogs just were so keen so do this job for their owners. Some of the conversation with the dogs made us laugh too but this WAS a serious competition.
At the Royal Easter show in Sydney, it is so busy you can often not get in to see some of the shows. We could here. The pig racing/jumping was funny. The amazing thing was the pigs looked like they enjoyed jumping into the water. OK maybe it was just the food they got at the end. There was certainly some style in the jump!
Some of the scrap metal art competition entries below.
Then there was the work “toys”.
Then there was the display of the All Terrain Vehicles to show the farmer just what you can do with them. That is if it ever rains and you have a nice mud pit on your property!
Dear Maddie and Steve,
I am really enjoying your entries as you travel the country. Had to laugh at the pig races. Every country fair undoubtedly has their own version. The PNE in Vancouver has a overall encased fat farmer and his young look alike side kick. The pigs race around the track but they save the kiddie pool and slide for the racing ducks. Too funy. Would have loved to watch the kelpies.
Wishing you many more adventures. And lots more blogging.
Love Andrea XOXO
On Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 4:29 AM Maddy and Steve Norman’s gap year, wrote:
> maddyrichter posted: “We left Robe in the dark to get to the South West > Field Day in Lucinvale 1.5 hrs away. We don’t usually drive in the dark or > at dawn/dusk as we don’t like to hit animals on the road but we wanted to > get to the show by 8 and there was no good camp to leave” >
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Hi Andrea, I saw someone in Canada was looking and wondered if it was you. Love having you along. It is a nice cheap holiday for you. Hope Chris is still enjoying the trip too!
Love, Maddy
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