Sunshine Coast Show

When we arrived on the Sunshine Coast last year, we wanted to experience as many things as possible in this part of Queensland.  Hopefully one of those experiences was an agricultural show and something different from the shows in the city.  We were lucky enough to be able to attend the Sunshine Coast Agricultural show at the Nambour showgrounds before we headed north.  As we have not been here for a full 12 months, we were worried that we would miss some annual events but luckily the show was held just recently in mid June.
The show was held over 3 days and we went on the last day due mainly to us having other things on during the previous days.  Although the entry fee was cheaper than Adelaide's royal show, it was still reasonably expensive but there was a special offer where kids were free on the last day so that helped a bit.
There were some familiar attractions such as the sideshow alley rides, showbags, animal displays and stalls but some had that unfamiliar Queensland theme which we weren't used to.  We didn't see the extensive agricultural animal events like cattle, sheep, alpacas etc etc but we weren't sure whether it was because it was the last day or whether they weren't included.  We had to keep reminding ourselves about the types of agriculture which exist around the Sunshine Coast because that's what was on display here.  Poultry seems to be popular probably because people can keep them on small acreage blocks which exist all over the coast.  There were chickens with mega drumsticks and extreme red comb-overs and feathers sticking out in all manner of weird places.  The girls thought they were funny but, to be honest, these birds did not look comfortable.  Exotic birds and budgerigars were also on display along with a fantastic display of bees and their lifecycle and production of honey.
Flower displays were also there but many of the exhibits were wilting because it was the last day of the show.  They ranged from individual blooms to whole arrangements.  The most commom bloom was the camelia which grows and flowers prolifically up in the hinterland because it's cool.  Fruit and veg played a big part at the show.  The Sunshine Coast is popular for many different types of fruit and vegetables, as is Queensland.  Pineapples, avocados, pawpaws, citrus and strawberries were all on display but the most unusual display we saw was the massive hands of bananas which had been judged.  I've never seen anything like it down south but then bananas aren't the pride of the state down south.
Horses and in particular, showjumping was as popular here as in Adelaide.  Many properties around the Sunshine Coast are devoted to horses and many people own them and ride them.  Once we had done all the agriculture of the show, we got down to the business of seeing what else there was.  Erin, of course, had already put in her requests for a facepainting, an icecream, some hot chips and rides.  Unfortunately, whenever we fulfilled something on her wishlist, it wasn't long before we were being bugged about the next thing.  One display which peeked all our interests was a reptile display.  This guy (whose name escapes me now) had taipans, eastern browns, king browns, red bellied blacks as well as lizards and pythons all together in this plastic swimming pool liner.  Whenever he had a talk on, he would attract a huge crowd.  Amazingly, he would be stepping over all these venomous snakes while giving his talk and lizards and pythons would be hanging from some tree branches he had placed throughout the display.  We went back at least twice to hear his talk because we never quite arrived at the beginning and so missed some of his show.
We then walked through sideshow alley and there were several rides for the littlies which excited Erin.  Becca was asleep in the pram by this stage after causing some drama.  She desperately needed a sleep but wasn't gonna go down without a fight and so struggled and fought us for ages to the point of making herself sick.  Eventually we won and she got some much needed rest.  Erin had a go on the massive blow-up slide and when she woke up, Becca had a ride on a small carousel.  Then they both had a ride on a pony.  Steve and I had to lead them around and although Erin had ridden before, Becca wasn't too sure but eventually enjoyed it.
We then watched some sidecar racing which had Erin in tears because of the noise but Becca watched quite happily.  We also watched some stunt motorcycle riders and a stunt horsewoman called Pinkie who performed all sorts of tricks on her horse.  I suppose because we were there on the last day and later in the afternoon, we were able to see all these other non agricultural events which were fun to watch.  After continued whingeing and tears, we decided to grab a couple of showbags and head home.......easier said than done!  As many people probably know, most showbags sold for around $20-25 and by this stage of the show, many of the cheaper and popular bags were sold out.  Out of the $100 I had in my purse, there was $15 left.  I couldn't believe where the money had gone and I had brought a heap of snacks for the girls to nibble on while we were there.  Erin insisted on a lolly showbag when she doesn't eat lollies.  Steve and I tried to convince her to buy a chocky bag because we knew she would take one bite out of all the lollies and unless they were strawberry, they would be wasted.  Eventually, after much heated discussion and sulking, she agreed to a Freddo bag along with one for Becca.  After some serious chocky swapping between the girls, they both had a selection which they would eat.
I liked the fact that it was a small show that one could easily walk around in an afternoon and see everything.  We didn't have to walk for miles from one end of a showground to the other.  Steve was a little disappointed that the show was perhaps less agricultural than he expected but maybe as we head further north and into more growing regions, then the shows may be more agricultural.  We all, however, enjoyed the day out and the Sunshine Coast show experience.