1 DAY, 2 GREAT EVENTS

One of the things that I came into 2015 determined to do was spend more time with my boys and participate more in the amazing things that happen in this fabulous city of Canberra. Well on Saturday I managed to cram two fun filled events into one day and it was awesome!

First up the boys and I hit up the Royal Canberra Show. I don’t really do crowds, especially now that we have a toddler to chase around, but I just love the sound, colours, smells (well some of them) and fun of a Show.

The ActewAGL Royal Canberra Show, Canberra’s largest all ages event, is staged annually by the Royal National Capital Agricultural Society. While having agriculture at its core, the Show has broadened over the years to reflect more entertainment, educational features and exhibitions, ensuring that there is a vibrant mix of “city meeting country” and “country
meeting city”. – source

I’m not sure how to really explain what an Australian show is to those that don’t live here, but from all my popular culture research I’d say it’s really similar to a county fair. There’s an agricultural component (livestock judging and show jumping, etc.) and there’s judged sections for gardening, cooking and crafts (to name a few), and then there’s sideshow alley (all games of “skill”), rides, show bags and food.

This is the first year that we’ve taken the Little Man where he can actually run around and enjoy everything there is to see and do. Lucky for me (and my weak stomach) he’s not really in to doing the rides… yet! But he was definitely excited by all the colours and noises of sideshow alley. The attendants at the games were all really lovely to him and let him pick things up and play without getting in trouble, which was really nice. We did let him play a few games (he loved putting the balls in the clowns mouths!) and he won his first ever sideshow alley prize. (It’s going straight to the pool room!)

He loved (loved!) seeing all the animals and we had to do a couple of laps of the sheds that held all the sheep and alpacas. (Which just smelled delightful…) He loved just pointing and looking and occasionally getting brave enough to pat an animal or two. We took him to the barnyard nursery (petting zoo) and he was most smitten with the ducks.

One of my favourite parts of the show is seeing all the Dahlia’s. They’re one of my favourite flowers and I’m so looking forward to growing them in our garden one day. (Who knows, may even give show entry a go! Ha!) The variety and the colour is always stunning and I have no idea how they get them to last all weekend. I didn’t get much of a chance to check out the arts and crafts this year as we saved that for last and by the time we entered the hall we were all just wanting to go home so it was a quick dash in and out.

I don’t consider it a show experience without getting my hands on a Dagwood Dog. I don’t know what it is but there’s something about the tomato sauce, battered sav and it being meat on a stick that I just can’t live without when I’m at the show grounds.

One of the other foods that I’ve found since living in Canberra are poffertjes (or dutch pancakes). I first had them at Gorman House Markets and was quickly addicted. (In the middle of winter when you’re outside and it’s freezing and the poffertjes are hot it’s perfection!)  It was the first time the Little Man had ever had them and they were a huge hit.

We had such a lovely time just checking everything out and spending time together. We went first thing in the morning and it was the best decision. It wasn’t crowded, we got a great parking spot and we got to enjoy everything without massive queues or trying to wrangle a slippery toddler through the crowd. We headed home around midday and the line of cars trying to get into the show was huge!

It’s going to be funny to see how our show experiences change over the years as the Little Man gets older and wants to do more things and then eventually just wants us to drop him at the front gate while he goes and has fun with his friends. I do kind of miss seeing the show at night time (something about all the lights and fireworks) but for now I’m happy to enjoy the more laid back experience.

After the show we all went home and tried to get some rest in before hitting up Enlighten. It didn’t work… The Little Man was reenergised after his 20 minute nap in the car and so none of us really got a chance to nap. (Man, I know I’m getting old when I actually feel like I need a nap to party into the early evening!) We knew the crowds were going to be out of control so we decided to get in there early and hopefully get a chance to enjoy without the horrible parking and queuing. It was a genius plan!

We got into the Parliamentary Triangle at 4:30 and managed to get a great park opposite the Treasury Building. (This building always reminds of something from a KGB movie or some such…) We were really lucky to be meeting friends, Rose and Joseph (from Travel and Beyond), and they’d gotten in just before us and nabbed some seats in the only shade spot inside the Night Noodle Markets.

Rose had been taunting me on the drive in by sending me pictures of the dessert she was eating from N2 Extreme Gelato and it was the first thing I ordered when we got there. It was a really hot day so it was amazing that the gelato was still holding as a solid. The top is covered with a mixture of hardened melted chocolate with rice bubbles and under that is gelato and a syringe of nutella. It was nice, but I think it suffered from the heat a little too much. But it was fun and gave us all something to talk about and the Little Man (like his mother) just can’t say no to a spoonful of ice-cream.

I often joke with Rose that she’s a food blogger trapped in the body of a travel blogger because her Instagram feed is always so full of food pictures. So it was no surprise that her and I spent the whole event posting photos of all the food we were eating.

Because we’d gotten there early the queues were really manageable which meant that we got to try a little bit of everything. The Malaysian chicken skewers were good, really spicy, but by the time I got around to eating mine (after the gelato) it was cold which was a bit of a bummer. The chilli packed a bit of a punch and my lips suffered slightly because of it… but not Rose, being the experienced food blogger she’d applied chapstick and had a protective layer between her and the chilli.

Next we had Zagyoza’s gyoza. Oh my gosh, they were the bomb. We had chicken teriyaki and traditional pork and they were sublime. Really fresh and just fried enough to be crunchy in all the right places. The Little Man is a big gyoza fan and so he was happy to tuck into a few of these. These were one of the dishes I really wish we’d had more of.

Given that it was the Night Noodle Markets Rose and I were determined to get some noodles. The only noodle dishes that we could find were Pad Thai. Now, I’ve eaten a fair bit of Pad Thai in my life and I have to admit I’m a little over it, but I ordered the Chicken Pad Thai and Chicken and Chorizo Paella from SpanThai. As the name suggests it’s a fusion of Spanish and Thai.

Hubby had the Paella and I had the Pad Thai. Hubby says that his dish was really yummy and it looked and smelt great. The Pad Thai was fabulous. It wasn’t heavy or downing in peanuts and there wasn’t any tofu in it (something I generally pick around anyway). It was served with a lime wedge which was really refreshing and it had to be my favourite dish of the night.

It was all made fresh and when I got my order it was piping hot. I’m drooling now just thinking about it. We didn’t get to all the stalls and by 6pm the queues were out of control. I was really disappointed that the event didn’t have free water stations set up (like the Show does). It meant that when we’d exhausted the water supply we’d brought with us we then had to pay $4 a bottle for water. Not cool!

We sat in the same spot for 4 hours and it was great. The event filled up around us and we got talking to the couple beside us (who Little Man kept going over and dancing for). It was such a lovely time just sitting, chatting, laughing and eating good food. Makes me wonder why we don’t do it more often.

There was a Lion Dance happening throughout the Night Noodle Markets area and it was so great to see. Little Man loved it and was happily dragging everyone off to follow the Lion.

At 8pm we decided it was time to go and see some of the sights. (The sun doesn’t go down until 7:30ish)  The first place we headed to was the edge of Lake Burley Griffin and checked out Voyage (click this link to read more about it).

It was so amazing to see all the origami boats and watch the colours transform them. It was also really hard to get images and so I’m very thankful that Rose took my camera and managed to grab some amazing images for me. We watched the boats for awhile before we decided to go cross country in the dark and have a look at the architectural projections.

Once again in 2015, Enlighten’s signature architectural projections will transform the grand buildings of the Parliamentary Triangle; bringing colour, movement and celebration to the cultural institutions at the heart of our city. The Electric Canvas will claim the walls of the National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia, National Portrait Gallery, Old Parliament House, Australian Parliament House and Questacon creating a gallery of the grandest proportions. – source

I have no idea how they work out the placement and the technical requirements to get this to work, but it’s amazing. The images are really captivating and the colours are just so bold and engulfing. The Little Man though was more interested in running around on the grass and chasing other kids. As the crowds were really starting to build up we decided it was probably best to make a move and head home.

I love this shot of Questacon and the National Library of Australia because in the background you can see the Telstra Tower lit in red (it’s the long dotted line of red in the right corner of the photo).

I loved this inflatable cat (which I’m sure has a specific name but I have no clue what it is). He was just so cute and I’d have totally purchased a soft toy version if they had them on sale (hint, hint).

By the time we left the event if was after 9pm and the Little Man was asleep and snoring in his car seat before we’d left the Parliamentary Triangle. We had such a great night and I’m so glad we got to spend it with some great friends. I’m always so nervous taking the Little Man out to events, but he had an absolute ball at both and I’ve gotten a little more confidence about taking him out (which can only be a good thing). I can’t wait to see what else we get up to this year.

If you’d like to know more about the Royal Canberra Show click here. | If you’d like to know more about Enlighten click here.