I love The Ekka (aka the exhibition or the Royal Queensland Show). Every year I try to go. This year I’d booked tickets and had been chatting about it with my daughters for months. There was a new nights show we all wanted to see.

I flew up on Friday evening on Qantas Flight (QF) 1554 and when I arrived Dad was watching the Brisbane Broncos defeat the team from Illawarra.

After a restless sleep the girls and I went to Westfield Chermside to get some groceries for Mum and grab a bite to eat for breakfast.

I went with a nice slice of coconut loaf and a tall white chocolate mocha.

After taking Miss14 and Miss18 to gymnastics training Miss20 and I did a few things to help with her university study.

If you want to see the photographs as a gallery check out Google Photos. Click on one image to see it full size. To see the EXIF data (including a map if the photograph was geotagged) click on the information (i) icon in the top right corner. You can navigate through the gallery using the arrow keys or by swiping if you’re using a tablet or smartphone. Here’s another gallery that I created with Adobe Lightroom web gallery module.

We picked up Miss14 and Miss18 at 2 pm and proceeded to Wooloowin Train Station to catch a train to Fortitude Valley Station and then the Loop ride.

 

When we arrived we went straight to the racing pigs to check out how these little porkers run around a ring and dive into a pool of water.

We then went to the food pavilion and checked out the free tasting treats. We had caramelised onion dip, doughnuts, bread, meatballs and other samples. We then went through and bought some dumplings and samosas. They were delicious.

Next on the list of things to do was the cake decoration display.

We’d agreed that at around 4.45 pm we’d wander over to the main arena to settle in for the evening’s entertainment. But before that we had one very important thing to do.

The best ice cream in the whole world is the strawberry sundae made by volunteers for The Prince Charles Hospital. If you’ve never had one you need to go to The Ekka and try one. They are so good when I worked at The Royal Brisbane Hospital in 1995 we used to go over everyday and get someone on the inside to buy a tray for us and bring them back to the laboratory.

After inhaling the ice cream we went to the main arena and sat on Machinery Hill.

We watched the horse whisperers and then the wood chop and then the rest of the light entertainment waiting for the monster trucks, motorcycles and drift cars.

I apologise these photographs are pretty crap. They’re mostly unprocessed and RAW out of the camera. I used a long lens with an aperture that was too small. The shutter speed was too long for sharp shots. I hope the ‘vibe’ of the photographs are okay.

After the wood chop Miss20 went and bought some popcorn which we devoured.

The entertainment ended with fireworks. I love fireworks. I’m so grateful I have eyes and ears to see and hear them. They are so beautiful. The Ekka fireworks are awesome.

I apologise these photographs are pretty crap. They’re unprocessed and RAW out of the camera.

After the fireworks we walked through sideshow alley and settled down to share a foot (12 inches) long Dagwood super dog.

We left on the train, got off at Central Train Station and proceeded to have a late night Maccas run. I had a cheeseburger, small chips and vanilla thick shake.

After a much better sleep Mum and Dad made us all waffles with eggs, bacon and sausage.

Have you ever been to The Ekka? How did you spend your weekend?