Sydney Royal Easter Show

Today we ventured out to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. I'm not sure why it is called an Easter Show. It's the Aussie version of the county fair, with a few key differences.




Showlink Tickets
The purchase of your ticket includes public transportation to and from the show. Brilliant! It was so easy to buy tickets online, print them at home and then use that ticket to board the bus, ferry and 2 trains that took us to Sydney Olympic Park. My kids think public transportation is almost as good as a carnival ride so this was a real bonus for us.

Showbags
As far as I know, Showbags have no equivalent in the US. They seem to be overpriced bags filled with food or toys or whatever that are sold at the show. I'm not sure why people feel compelled to spend $25 on a goodie bag of cheap Dora the Explorer toys or a chiller bag filled with milk products. It seems to be an integral part of the Easter Show experience- but one we missed out on since my kids had no idea what the showbags were and therefore did not spend the day begging me for one. Instead they picked a stuffed wombat and a stuffed bilby for souvenirs.

Extreme Sports
There are lots of extreme sports featured at the show. We were lucky enough to catch some motocross stunt riders and some stunt truck drivers. The little buddy was literally jumping up and down cheering them on.

Animals
Just like the American county fair you'll see plenty of cows, sheep, goats and horses at the show. But you'll also have a chance to see diving pigs and wild bilbies. They also had a farmyard nursery exhibit with all variety of baby animals for the kids to see and touch. This was a highlight of the show for us. We also got a picture taken with a little lamb. I figured it's a good stand in for the Easter Bunny shot we never got this year. (The Easter Bunny doesn't hang out at Aussie malls).




Another highlight: the John Deere tractors on display that the kids could try out.



And, just like back home we knew the day was complete when we all walked through a giant pile of manure in the cow exhibit. Gotta bring a little bit of the farm back home!