~ Curious Charlie ~

Royal Melbourne Show 2015 - Part 1 @ Saturday, October 08, 2016

Friday 25th September 2015

Today, or rather this afternoon was spent at the Royal Melbourne Show, (about the event). For jas (who's 10th-ish gen. Australian) it has been a family tradition for the last 18yrs and he has fond memories and know what to recommend we check out.

Even though we've been here for 7yrs, I have never been. Le beau was going take me last year but he couldn't make it in the end. Freud has also been to the show, a couple times and like me he's an analyst and rarely buys something for the novelty factor (lol, lies, I love decorative homewares!). His attitude towards money is almost the polar opposite of jas, so hanging out with him is very different.

It's not often that the Showgrounds train station is used, but it was for this event! Arriving around 3.30pm the area was packed. I have never seen showgrounds used to its capacity, as normally we just a hire a building and not use all the facilities. A beautiful warm (not in the shade though) sunny day.

Note - Grab a newspaper on your way in, they'll be out when you leave unless you leave early.

There were rides everywhere, and I haven't seen this many since we went to Movie World.

Rides, shows (like exhibitions), shops and food, some things are cheaper than others, but overall buckle your seats belts, this is going to be expensive!

Games was something we didn't do. It's very interesting watching them, there was a minion race game. 2 shots for $6. 20 spots. $120 made. 2 winners. It's random, as to who wins nothing you can do to get the odds in your favour. But isn't that amazing? How they can make $120 in less than 5 minutes? It's also such a scam!

Big Bubble Bump $15 a Shot.

I'm not a fan of rides and there's exactly two that I will go on. The big bubble hamster balls looked interesting, you'd get in and they pump it full of air, and push you into the inflatable pool. Where you'd try to keep upright.

Jas told me about the 'Trail Showbag' which is $12, and you go around and collect stuff. As a kid it's great, but I didn't do it because it was too much novelty stuff like key rings and things I didn't need. Freud did it though and gave me the girly items :P

Something about showbags values is that their value determined by the organization vs how much you value it are completely different things. e.g. Comes with vouchers, BOGOF, so say item is $8 this means that voucher whether you use it or not is considered $8 on value.

The Masterchef Kitchen was a popular attraction, featuring stalls, two places selling food and a demo kitchen. Today it was Huxtaburger and Zumbo. This is actually where they film the series from season 5+, before that it was in Sydney.

One of the most popular areas was the petting zoo. Where I took lots of pictures, got scared of something large sneezing, saw the first live turkey and watched ducklings swim in a mini pond. So cute!

If you wanted to you could be a $2 cup of hay to get the animals to come to you. There were animals in pens and roaming. And there were different shifts so some could take a break.

Showbags! I love showbags! Not packing them at 5am though... There was an entire hall of showbags! Mainly three different stalls, but lots of the same one. There were football themed bags, candy theme and kids' stuff theme e.g. Pokemon, Hello Kitty, Adventure Time.

I want the one with a purple fairy costume! But didn't buy it as, well, it's not my size. That ship has long sailed. I never got to be a fairy princess. But now I cosplay!

Jas recommenced 'Bertie Beetle' chocolates, cadbury with crunchie is what wikipedia tells me they are. He said "back in my day they had a bag for $1" referring to the red bag. O.o Do you mean back when you used pennies and pounds? Cause nothing's that cheap here.

And so we bought the $5 Bertie Beetle bag for me containing 15, and 50 for $15 for him. The other candy bags weren't worth it. I'm amazed at my level of restraint, but we did do a deep analysis. Where's the bag with the heart candies? Once in the 3rd grade I had a friend who moved to Melbourne, and she told us all about the show and gave me some heart candies. Been looking for them ever since.

Dinner was next on the list. Freud had a souvlaki, too small for the price and not enough meat so he didn't finish the wrap, he asked for no tomato. I find with events unless there's a food truck there you like it's best not to have average food, but to bring your own.

Melbourne Paella Company

I had the pallea because it looked good. There was bits of hard grain in it and it was expensive at $15! I didn't like it and couldn't finish it. Though there were two mussels, the third was empty. Overall bland and inedible.

196 Below Nitro Ice Cream Bar

The red skin was alright, though more watery in taste than creamy being a sorbet.

It's high...

We have to go on one ride! I hate rides. I hate heights. I hate speed. I like my feet on the ground. But we went on the Ferris Wheel, for pictures. :P 3mins for $8, a bit of swinging, but it was ok for most of it. There was a bit where I closed my eyes though. But then the fireworks started and we were at/near the top! Getting my $8 worth, yay!

We forgot about the height,s too busy getting pictures. Not sure where the pictures are now... And that was round one, we're back on Monday to get more pictures of the rides, do all the activities and take pictures of the rides at night.

So how much did we spent? And by we I mean I.

Entry - Free, thanks to tickets from a friend
Rides - $8, one ride. I like my feet on the ground.
Food - $17* +
Showbags - $22 (for 3, one to be gifted)

Royal Melbourne Show: Part 1 - Part 2