FRIDAY 2 JULY     ALICE SPRINGS

We had a very late and slow start on a really cold morning, then had an early lunch, because we were off to the Alice Springs Show!

Today is a local public holiday, for the Show. It is clearly a big event in town. We found it a mix of amusing, tawdry and downright grotty, after we paid $8 to get in.

The Show venue was just a little too far to walk – at Blatherskite Park. Isn’t that a wonderful name? Apparently it derives from a nearby hill – Mount Blatherskite – so called because of an old time local horseman who skited and blathered on about the ability of his horse, that was trained around the hill. True!

We parked Truck by the side of the Stuart Highway, then walked across the railway line to the park entrance. Later, were very glad we’d done this, as those who had parked in the grounds or in the approach road, were queued up for ages to get out onto the highway.

It seemed as if all of Alice Springs – and the district – were here.

We wandered about and looked at the displays. Spent quite a bit of time in the art and cookery sections, but I thought they were of a rather low standard. The prison won a lot of prizes for the vegetables grown there – not an easy feat in such a climate, I suppose.

John went off to wander the rides and sideshow alley – areas I loathe – while I went and watched some horse events. Much more my scene, but also a pretty low standard and very few entries. John reported back that there was one ride that was so scary that he saw a number of riders coming off it, having wet their pants!  Yuk – that is fun?

We both went to view the poultry exhibits. I was pleased to see some muscovy ducks there – I have a sentimental attachment to these, from my childhood.

It was a chilly afternoon and I’d forgotten to take my windcheater, so I was cold outside, even in the sun.

Came across a stand advertising the school in Adelaide where a former colleague of mine is now Principal. Seems she is aiming to expand their enrolments by recruiting boarders from here. The promo stand brought back memories of similar efforts by my school, at local and overseas education fairs. Another aspect of the job I do not miss!

The show occupied us all afternoon.

There were a lot of aborigines attending the show – many appeared to be the somewhat disreputable town camp types. They were mostly in the sideshow and rides areas. The aboriginal kids obviously went for showbags in the same way as kids everywhere. John tells me he used to take his children to the Melbourne Show every year – they would save up for a set number of showbags. My two were underprivileged by comparison – I never took them!

We were rather weary after all the wandering about, and went out to buy pizza for tea.