Ekka

Ekka is short for Exhibition (Aussies never say a word in its entirety) and is Queensland's version of a state fair, except that we get a public holiday for Ekka in Queensland! Our friends Alea and Row took us to the Ekka and showed us around. As with all fairs, there are carnival rides at the Ekka.

We had our first dagwood dog (and I had my second as well), which is a hot dog fried in batter - it was pretty good, but not nearly as good as a corn dog!

Sev is lucky I didn't post the shot of him doing something inappropriate with his dagwood dog!

There was a monster truck called Devil's Taxi which we got to see perform later at the evening show. This monster truck was completely built by its owner. Sev inspected this for a few minutes trying to figure out how to make one for himself.

And the best part of the Ekka as with all fairs was the animals! We met Quita's long lost cousins.

Then we went to the most intense petting zoo that ever existed. This little pig's tail was flicking around a hundred miles an hour!

I think Sev is laughing at the pig's tail here.

I really wanted to pick it up, but managed to restrain myself!

This calf had very woolly fur.

Most people bought food to feed the animals at the petting zoo, resulting in some very fat animals like this goat. We saw one goat that was either pregnant or obese.

This puppy charmed Sev and I thought for a minute that Quita would have a little sister that evening!

All the puppies are herding dogs and were for sale! We had to run away before buying one, they were so cute!

They were trying to play and bite each other through the fence.

My favorite was the fuzzy border collie.

I thought this calf was so pretty!

The ducklings were all napping in one big pile until a balloon popped and they jumped up and starting running around!

There were baby animals everywhere just sleeping in the middle of the crowd! This one must have been very tired - it was out cold.

I learned at the Ekka that lambs have tails and that their tails wiggle and jump around as if they have a mind of their own!

I tortured this lamb for a minute by touching its tail so that it would wiggle, then the lamb ran away from me!

These pigs found cover from the crowd under a piece of machinery.

There was an area for the animals to rest from being pet, and all of them looked very tired!

This lamb's tail was going so crazy while it was eating that it hit the sheep next to it, who responded by head butting the poor lamb across the room! It was very funny but sad!

There was a room of bulls for competition. I don't know what kind of bull this is but he sure is huge!

There was also a room of sheep giving birth! This lamb was probably born just a few minutes before we came along. It's mother hasn't even cleaned it off yet!

And then came the show birds. I had no idea there were so many types of pigeons and chickens, all of them competing in shows.

This pigeon has very long strong legs - it's a supermodel pigeon.

This pigeon has feathers on its feet so thick that it has to shuffle around!

This is Cruella Deville pigeon with a very glamorous feather scarf.

The chickens were very curious about us and poked their heads out of their cages to say hello.

I was sure I would be the first person who ever lost a finger to a chicken so I kept my distance.

This rooster won best in show and Sev said it's the biggest rooster he's ever seen.

The Ekka has a nightly show of motorbikes, monster trucks, sheep dogs, live music, laser lights, and fireworks that we settled in for after checking out all the animals.

It felt like a summer night in Oregon with a couple showers and a blanket to cuddle up in, except that it's winter here!