Ramblings

Yesterday I went to the Royal Melbourne Show with Melissa, Kaitlyn and Kieran. Rodney and Ashley declined to come, something about a football match to watch?

We had the most wonderful time! Going to the Show has been a regular part of my year since childhood and I have continued the tradition with my kids. As they said, they are glad we have always done it and they really look forward to it. Although the showbags are an attraction, they are selective about what they get and never really got into the whole ride thing. In fact, most of their favourite bits are free!

We began, as always, by buying our Treasure Hunt showbag – what used to be the Yellow Brick Road bag – which is a bag and a map, with designated points around the event where you collect your treasures. This is the highlight and the kids still love the thrill of the hunt and getting each little treat. These days we really need the map too, because there have been major renovations at the Showgrounds and what we once knew like the back of our hand has become very unfamiliar territory.

There is a huge new pavilion which is filled with foods to taste and buy. It is a hard lifeJ Last year Gippsland was the featured region, this time is was the Yarra Valley. Bought a YV showbag – quince and grape paste, mustard, raspberry jam, nougat, chocolate coated hazelnuts – bliss! Just perfect with the King Island Dairy showbag …. Mmm! Also got the Women’s Weekly, Good Taste and Super Food Ideas bags, so came home with a nice pile of reading and heaps of products to try. We ate our way around and then had lunch! Kieran had fish and chips while the girls shared a seafood basket and I had a yabby pate platter. Long gone are the days when all you could get was an over-priced hot dog.

We got a round the Victorian Government Expo quicker than in the past, but I still had time to get my cup of billy tea. We entered all the competitions as usual (we won a prize about ten years ago!) and I showed off the poster for the upcoming pram stroll, which features four ABA volunteers in their logo tshirts!

Did the teen market, where Kieran bought a manga (or is it anime?) poster. Then went to the Book City shop next door … Kieran tried his best to stop us … where they had some great bargains! As well as three Dianne Blacklock novels, Jamie Oliver’s biography and a guide to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy at $1.00 each (!), I got a little book with all of the M.I.L.K images in it for $12.95 and a Lance Armstrong book for Rod for $6.95. It was only when we returned our hire shopping trolley and had to haul all our stuff to the car that we recalled we weren’t going to do that again :0

Of course, all this required another break for coffees and chai and cookies. Then we visited the Fibre to Fashion hall which I nearly dismissed as not of interest – then discovered it was where many of our favourite stalls had moved to. Whoops – close call! So we got to do all the lavender farms/candles etc browsing.

Eventually we had seen and bought and eaten as much as we could, so we headed home. We missed the football traffic from the MSG and had the smoothest, quickest trip home on the Monash Freeway: that is what it should be like all the time. We got home in time for Rod to make dinner and then indulged in the post-show chocolate and lolly stash fun, before Kieran and Melissa recalled the brand new Xbox and went to see how many of the old games play on the new console – most was the delighted outcome.