Ekka 2009

Had a great day at Ekka today. Brought the 2 kids along to Ekka and spent a bomb on the showbags but had lots of fun. Even got to see Ten Tenors perform Live and display of fireworks.

Reached RNA showground around 9.10am. The official opening time is 9am. This year we went earlier as compared to last year. There wasn't any queue to go into the showground. Moreover this year we managed to get the entry tickets at a 10% discount price at $20 from being a RACQ member.

We made a beeline for the Showbag Pavilion. Last year we only found the Showbag Pavilion towards the end of the trip. This year we are smarter in the sense we did our homework prior ro our trip. On last Wednesday, the Courier included a map of Ekka 2009 and we bought the papers. It was definitely a good bargain as we would have to fork out $2 for the map if we want one at the entrance and the paper was only $1. Anyway we also listed out the various showbags that we wanted. So we walked around the pavilion and discovered that some of the prices of the showbags differ from what was printed in the paper. It was actually cheaper for some. All the items were still the same just that it was a better deal with its low prices. We walked around and before long we had been in the pavilion for an hour. It was a huge area and we did not realised that we had walked for such a long time. Then the buying spree began. We were just going to various stalls to buy this showbag and that. Before long, out pram were hooked with the many showbags that we had bought. We even have to carry some of them as we were worried that the pram could not withstand the weight. So with all the showbags arround, Sabrina spotted some chocolates. We decided to let her have a small packet of M&M from one of our showbags. This is the first time she was having chocolates. She had such a great time eating and trying to dig them out from the small opening that I made for her.

With so many things, we decided to get the trolley bag which was going at $19.99 for a plain one. But I remembered reading that we can get a Nova trolley bag from the magazine. With that in mind, we went off to find the Nova Live Entertainment section and we got a trolley bag and it was only $20 and it had the Nova logo on the trolley. More worth and nicer too as compared to the plain ones. We were able to packed many of the showbags into the trolley and was glad when we found out that we can have a pass to allow us to go to and fro the showground to put things in our car. Adrian went off to put everything in teh car after lunch while we waited for him at the entrance where Sabrina enjoyed herself watching others coming down the slide sitting on a sack.

We stopped for lunch eating the fried rice that I had prepared last night and the chocolate and strawberry milk that we bought from Oak while at the Showbag Pavilion. Sabrina kept wanting to go to the games stall to play the fishing game and we had to put a stop to that. We told her that we wou;d go to the stall after lunch and she sort of cooperated. So true to our words, we brought her to one of the stall to "fish" for fishes. It just so happened that Sebastian was sleeping if not I think he would also want to have a go at the fishing game. Sabrina was very happy trying to catch the fish she wanted. She managed to to win a blue dolphin and she kept saying dolphin. She wanted to have another go after that as she put the dolphin in the pram. We had to coax her and tell her that we are bringing her to see parrots and chickens and dogs. She resisted for a while but went along with us.

Brought them to see the display of poultry eg chicken, duck, geese, parrots, canary, quail and many more. She had such a great time naming the various animals. Just when we were alost through with the exhibits of poultry, Sebastian woke up. He was a little grouchy but when he saw the parrots and canary on display, he was immediately all eyes for them. He was observing all that was on display and was very happy to sit in the pram and watch them in action. With that we went to see the fish, cows, horse, animal nursery. She was able to see the baby of the various farm animals eg lamb, ducking, chicks. These are the things that she likes and it kept her pretty awake although it was way past her naptime.

After that we went off to the various exhibits around the showground. There was the gardening, automotive, Shenzhen, Woolworths, Qld Government and many more. Just when we were about to go to the fruits and vege exhibits, Sabrina finally slept. AS we walked around taking photos of the displays, Sebastian was very cooperative and smiled at every photos that he was in. We thought since he was in such a good mood, we should take more photos of him and true enough he smiled his way through. Some of the passers-by were so taken in by him and commented that he sort of know that he is going to be in the picture and was all ready to smile and focus at the camera. To with we replied that this was really the first time he did that.

By then it was close to 6pm and it was really dark outside. As we wanted to see the display of fireworks, we stayed on. We went to the side where the games stalls and the rides are. Wow..there are really lots. I cannot imagine what we had missed out last year. Took some pictures and saw the various rides which I think I would not take for all the reasons...Hahaha. Soon Sabrina woke up and we went for dinner at the park and we were entertained by live music from the NOva Entertainment Park. It was only after a while that we realised that the Ten Tenors were performing Live for everyone at EKKA. We quickly took out our camera and started shooting away. I was just mesmerised by their strong vocals. We watched their performace back in SG few years back and they were really good. Adrian was commenting that we paid only $40 and we were able to be so up close and personal with Ten Tenors- real great bargain. Hahahha.

Then we went off to search for the place where the display of fireworks would be. It was at the stadium and we had to climb all the way upstairs to get a seat. I carried Sebastian and held onto Sabrina's hand while Adrian carried the pram with a few showbags in them. When we finally got ourselves seats, we realised that we would not be able to see the entire display of fireworks as we were in a sheltered area. Down we went again and stood near the stand where some performances were going on. There were the stunts performed using Toyota V6 HiLux and some horses. Finally the moment we were waiting for arrived - the fireworks. It was real pretty. Sebastian was sort of oblivious to the loud fireworks while Sabrina kept telling me to "Let's go". She was afraid in the sense she refused to let me hold her, she just want to get out of the place.

With all the excitement coming to the halt, we finally bid goodbye to the EKKA show and went off to our car to go home. As Adrian felt that his left ankle was hurting, I decided to drive home- aka more driving practice. Adrian was more than happy to let me drive as he can be the passenger. He is just waiting for the day I get my licence and he can be the passenger.

Had a fun day, spent a bomb on showbags, had great live music by Ten Tenors, saw display of fireworks. Sabrina definitely enjoyed herself eating M&M, going to the animals exhibits, playing at the games stalls and running around. Great day at Ekka. Till the next Ekka in 2010.

Updated Aust Time 11.08pm