"Fairy floss! Get your fairy floss!"

(Can you guess what "fairy floss" is at the fair?) Also, corn dogs are called "Dagwood dogs" here.

Well, here we are, bright and eager to start our Saturday at the famous "Ekka"! (Essentially, the state fair) It's supposed to be the "Exhibition", but the Aussies shorten every word= Ekka. The day we were here, they broke an attendance record! (More than 20,000 people attended!) www.ekka.com.au

We immediately found Krispy Kreme Doughtnuts! (Jealous?) And yes, they WERE the real thing.

Chaos everywhere! Stimulation overload!

The only thing Summer won all day :)

Brian and Dustin about to ride "The Bad Ass Zipper". (Again!)

Here they are dangling on some other contraption that made them scream. (Summer stayed put on the ground all day)

Because this was the fair, there was also no shortage of animals. Award winning animals, like this beautiful, sleepy showdog.

Cows were paraded around the arena...

Giant, prize winning angus cattle that you could smell from a kilometer away...

A whole building of prize winning roosters. This one was abnormally large, and was VERY loud and stinky. (gross)

The highlight of everyone's day were the showbags. Showbags are interesting, because they are plastic themed bags filled with lollies, toys, magazines, etc. You can purchase one of these for a fraction of the retail valued price, and literally have thousands to choose from. It's like getting a bag of really good samples that you pay a few dollars for. They cost anywhere from $2-$30 per bag, and are most of the reason that the kids (and grown ups) look forward to the Ekka each year.

An entire building-wall to wall- dedicated to just showbags.

Dustin got this random "Hasselhoff" one, and you get all kinds of "Don't Hassell the Hoff" items, including: a wig, keychain, mug, stubby cooler, and wristbands. :)

Here's an example of a popular licorice one, and the retail value of the bag was around $52, but selling for $17. It's a great way to get one piece of each flavor of lollies, or just a good sample of the type of lolly/magazine/toy/product. Brian brought home about 3 chocolate showbags, and Summer bought 3 showbags: one Cadbury chocolate one for Krysta, and 2 food ones with snack and toiletry mini samples in it.

We had heaps of fun overindulging in junk food, and of course represented the Americans in true form. Casualities of the day, between Summer and Brian, included:
3 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
3 Beers
1 Turkey wrap
1 Sausage/Onion roll
1 Corn on the cob
1 Garlic fry bread
1 glass of wine
1 indian curry
1 veggie empanada
1 strawberry sundae
1 vanilla malt milk
=not nearly enough water, and entirely too much sugar!

Mind you, this was in the 9 hour time frame that we were at the Ekka, but enough for both of us to have stomachaches the next day :(
We came, we saw, we ate, we spent heaps of money, and were so tired that we didn't make it to the concert or the fireworks at night. BUT we had the true Aussie Ekka experience...enough to last us until next year!

We had our own fireworks show since fireworks (sparklers like this one) are legal here!