Ballarat Show

Melbourne Cup day wasn't a public holiday in Ballarat, because Ballarat Show Day is instead. So to celebrate the holiday appropriately today, we went to the show.

There were animals:

A champion cow:

 A bull getting a haircut:

There were sideshows and rides, including this:

Zorbing on a pool. The kids looked like they were having fun.

I always enjoy the cooking and craft sections. Traditional anzacs and scones:

Knitting. How would you feel if you had knitted a whole Noah's Ark of animals, and were beaten by one (rather amazing) horse?

I loved this crocheted horse:

I wondered if it was a pattern, or the maker's own design. Google helped me find this page which has a link to a Russian site with instructions, but I couldn't load the Russian page unfortunately. Not that I need to take up crocheting again, but that horse is adorable...

Of course I had to see the quilts:

where a few people I know had won prizes.

There were displays of farm machinery, old steam engines, and a model railway, but this one grabbed my attention:

The "Sew What" travelling sewing-machine museum! This machine was a treadle chainstitcher. They had lots of old machines, toy machines, and a few machines I'd never seen before.

After all that, we needed some refreshments. The CWA (Country Women's Association) to the rescue:

Devonshire tea in the refreshment rooms. Yum! Whoever made these deserved to win the scone prize.

I hope you've enjoyed these glimpses of the show!