Going to the Sydney Royal Easter Show has been a yearly ritual for me since I was a kid. While once upon a time, I went for the farm animal experience, it quickly transitioned into a focus on the showbags, and nowadays, the food dome.
This was the first year I was attending with little ones - made up of my boyfriend's nephews and my kid brother. Special thanks goes out to Jamie who kindly sent me our entry tickets! Jamie is the guy behind the official Easter Show website and coincidentally, he was also someone I met when I first entered the advertising industry! I'm constantly reminded of how small the world really is...
So anyway, free entry meant an increased allowance in the number of showbags the kids were allowed to buy, haha ;)
First stop was The Supercoat Dog Spectacular, a Flyball Challenge which requires dogs big and small to race in a relay-style team, leaping over hurdles and catching balls.
Second stop was the ABC3 trailer where the kids were filmed in a blue screen studio and featured on their very own CD copy of a selected TV segment. The special effects novelty factor was met with great excitement!
Third stop was the Flower & Garden Pavillion for my sister who is an avid floral designer in her spare time. Look at how gorgeous TAFE NSW's display was! Plus the chair looked so delicate and soft, I just wanted to take a nap on it.
We also spotted the winners of The Great Backyard Pumpkin Challenge and wondered how many pumpkin pies could be made from it all.
Keeping to a tight schedule, as the Robosaurus was only on twice a day at 12:20pm and 8:10pm, we then headed to the Main Arena and ducked in, around and under the crowds for a spot. Robosaurus is a metal munching, fire breathing car-niverous robot. The kids really enjoyed the massive breaths of flame.
In between we also went into The Zone for a photo shoot on the NSW Police Jetski and had a go at playing with their metal detector.
And now for the food. I managed to steer the kids' attention away from all the greasy fast food and into the food dome where we had freshly shucked Sydney Rock and Pacific oysters, fresh lemonade, chocolate coated strawberries by Lush Berries and honey donut puffs followed by a mouthful of samples from other exhibitors.
I used to make a meal out of sampling foods but either the sampling has diminished or my appetite has grown!
Thankfully, we walked past a glass cabinet full of trophies and knew instantly that the trophy pies from Mick's Bakehouse which are normally only served at their bakeries in Leeton and Wagga Wagga were destined for our stomachs. I was sad to discover that all the varieties I had wanted to try were already sold out, so I had to settle with the classic meat pie.
The crust was perfect and the gravy meat filling was hearty and piping hot. Was it the best ever meat pie? I thought it was a definite contender.
We continued to stare in amazement at all the displays in the food hall but then gave in to the demand for showbags.
And I'm afraid, that was the end of this very long day. Once the showbags reached their little hands, all they wanted to do was to go home and play. Hmmm... while it was a fantastic family event, I might just go without the little ones next year... What do you think?
Sydney Royal Easter Show, 1 - 14 April
For more information, visit the official website.
The Easter Show is for grownups as well as for kids. I used to be bored with the flower and food displays, but now I wouldn't miss them! PS: Your brother is as adorable as ever :)
Too true! There's so much there for grownups, its great! I'll have to go strategically next year... I wanted to buy so much but had my hands full with the kids' showbags!
Aww thanks, he's a really sweet kid!
One day. One day I'll score free tickets to the Show :D I didn't go this year, so hopefully Robo is an annual fixture. Did you see the diving pigs? They are my favourite.
No, I didn't get a chance to see the flying/diving pigs. I've seen some videos of it on YouTube and can't really understand the excitement over them? Maybe it's one of those things you have to see live.
Food and flowers! That pulls at my heart strings =) Being an ex florist and having a growing passion for food I am seriously contemplating combining both as a future career path.
Oh that's a wonderful idea!! I think you should definitely look into it. I don't know what you do now, but a career full of food and flowers sounds like the perfect thing!
Oooo and look at those Lush Berries! =D
I wanna try make these at home myself :-P
Great to see some of the kiddie fun stuff. I think anyone who takes children to these sorts of things is very brave!
Hankering for oysters now... and a giant pumpkin pie ;)
Thank you, I think so too now! Because so many people do it, I didn't think it'd be such a mission! We had so much fun though and it was great seeing the kids have a good time. I'm thinking I'd go twice next year. Day time with kids and night time for me.