EKKA, the review.

So finally, after 10 days of Brisbane fun, the EKKA has ended. As this was my first EKKA, I did quite enjoy it, especially since I had to work for my uni essay.

However, I can see why EKKA was the biggest event in Queensland for the year. It's huge, with plenty of shows (day and night), parades, people and games. It makes that Pasar Malam at Tampines ever year look small and pathetic (which it is after no one dared to sell pirated cds =( )

I caught the express trains on two days to the EKKA to ensure that I can enjoy the days. The trains in Queensland are still the rather old ones (except the airport trains), and the train operators still blow their whistles before closing the doors. The stations are announced by the operators as well, and this operator wasted no time in telling the people that "this is an Exhibition train, stopping at all stops till Milton then express to the exhibition. This train will not stop at Roma Street or Central. Passengers who are heading for city, please detrain at the next station for the city train which is 2 minutes behind us."

The journey to exhibition took an hour, roughly the same time needed to go to Central from my home. While the queue had to get tickets from just 2 operating booths (Saturday's queue was HUGE), I joined the lucky/smart ones who got their tickets beforehand (mine was free) at major train stations or otherwise and into the EKKA within minutes.


The first thing you see, is this huge Ferris Wheel. With over 100 years of history (or something), and an average of 10 proposals a year, this company has been around for a bit. However, with the temperatures reaching 24 degrees on Saturday, I did wonder why people would go on the Ferris wheel at this time, only to be hung out to dry like salted fish.


Having seen quite a few carnivals myself, I thought I've seen it all, and rode them all. However, this cage thing (no seat belts. You have to hold on to the bars) is probably one I've not seen before. However, as I was alone, riding such extreme rides is never fun if you are alone, but I'll remember it as a mountain which I'll someday conquer.


The main roller coaster ride. Looks fun.


This was one stall which I amused myself with. The objective is to roll balls into the holes (not easy, as usual), which will move your camel rider. However, with 11 other competitors, and only 1 winner, I didn't manage to win that huge softtoy which was up for grabs. =(


The slide thing of the EKKA. Looks... interesting. But I prefer slides to be wet ones.


Another one of those "beat all the other suckers to win a huge softtoy!" games. This one involved rhythm in placing a ball over a hoop which will make your monkey climb. The first monkey to reach the top, wins.


This amusement here allows people to bounce their kids, allowing babies to take flight. Amusing, no doubt.



Nearby, is a woodchopping competition, where people have to... chop wood. The first to get through the log, wins. However, this year, they added a handicap, which meant that the more seasoned pros start 10-15 seconds later. Even then, the seasoned pros won. It definately requires great strength, but it also a good axe and technique. With all the rules (your axe cannot hit the ground and so on), this is an actually difficult event.



With some tight cash, I allowed myself a childhood joy of bumper cars and the camel race. However, when I saw the chairlift, I could not resist scraping up $5.50 for the ride to the other side of the EKKA.

And man, it was worth it.

Sights from a bird's eye view:






The train. Long, and old. But it works.



At the other side, there were plenty of exhibits (true ones, not games). For example, there's this lovely dog show and competition where the judge tests dogs on various skills, such as listening to their master and not taking water from strangers. This dog belonged to one of the judges. Of course, it's a huskie.

I want one too...

Other than dog shows, there are plenty of places to eat (asian food, dutch food, more hotdogs), and plenty more exhibits. No cat show though =(


One of the exhibits I found was this banana exhibit, where the people display the heaviest bunch of bananas. The champion was at a staggering 78kgs (The nearest one was a little over 60). While I've heard of things like the biggest lettuce and tomato, I can't find them. The event logs listed them to be on the 1st and 2nd day. Maybe I missed them. =(


And then, I entered, the secret cow level.

Cows, thousands of them, stocked up to be sold. All types of cow, cattle, bison and things which I don't even know or have heard of before I came. If you thought cows are only things which produce milk, think again. There are so many types of them, I lost count fairly quickly. It had to take the biggest storehouse to store them all, as they wait for Friday, at the time which they would be sold.







Nearby, is a horse show ground. This cow girl is riding something that looked more like a warhorse, but I can't recall the name. She's demostrating how the competition is to be held, which is that each competitor lassos a bunch of hay and drag it around the course. The one who does it in the fastest timing, wins.


Outside, a horse gets prepared for her job. With the careful brushes, I believe this horse will be used for show instead of competiting, but hey, I know nuts.


Irish horse. They are the only white ones in the area. Looks nice, like the one Gandalf used in Lord of the Rings.


The only clear shot I had of a horse. No, I'm not inside the cage, but due to some... careful thinking, I managed to capture it. ph33r.


Nearby, there was a place selling wool. Strangely, there isn't a single sheep in the area. Perhaps they are not brought here, but the people selling wool, leather, and whatever are all housed here in this warehouse. Wool hat, anyone?

In the next area, I finally found... home.

Well, almost.

Chickens, thousands of them. They aren't called chickens here, but "game", and I think I know why. All of them are brought here for show, and it would be impossible for me to take pictures of all of them. I took some champion birds or simply, games which are HUGE. Some are so fat, I wonder how they can stand up...















This is one big champ, and he gets his own cage, which, as you can see, is obviously bigger than the rest. Winners get everything...


Of course, other than game, there are other birds such as... I have no idea what they are called. They are shown in a huge exhibit here.


Two... whatever, champions. :o


Love birds.



Of course, there are ducks. Hehe. But not a lot. Here's a sleeping champion.


Nearby, there's an exhibit for winetasting, and of course, people selling wine. Honey mead sounds... interesting though.


King kong! Some senseless parade, as usual.


At the stadium, they were having fun bullying a cow. Poor cow. But the dude got applauded for it. He must have had a super run.

I attended a fashion show (my camera is too crap to take anything in that lighting) which was advertised on television, and as it is my first fashion show, I found it rather interesting, especially with the experienced models strutting the latest summer wear. Can't really see a trend, but I hope the polka dots hype is over. >_>

And then, it's time to work at my uni's cafe. It's seriously fun, as the co workers are very friendly, and the supervisor and manager is very helpful. I stayed on the frontlines on two days before running into the kitchens on the third day as I wasn't feeling all that well. Both positions are fun. Up front, you get to interact with people, and hear some real strange requests. On top of that, the busy times is when everything is so chaotic, it was very enjoyable, as you keep screaming at the kitchen to make more chips (the fryers died. Joy.) and burgers, and you have customers just waiting. Thankfully, Aussies are quite nice people, so no real complaints (except for a few irrtated customers who had to wait a few minutes).

In the kitchen, the rule of "what they don't know, can't hurt them", is applied. >:) It isn't exactly the most hygenic way of preparing food, but hey, we use gloves. Should be fine. I think.


The cafe. OAK is a brand of milk here which tastes really good (vanilla > all).


The front lines of the store. Drinks on the left, and fried food at the end.


The kitchen, with my supervisor, Alexia, on the left, and my co worker, Darren on the right. Alexia is a really nice and fun girl, but she's really stressed out over this entire thing. I don't blame her, as she has to take control of just about everything. Staff timetables are not so easy once people start cancelling 10 minutes before, and stocks get even more difficult as you attempt to find out the best ways to maintain your stocks so you have sufficient, but you are not overstocked. Supermarkets use computers. We use a human brain.


Dagwood dogs! Not exactly my favourite aussie food though, but it's hugely popular here at the EKKA. It's just a hotdog coated with starch and fried. Of course, with the heaps of tomato sauce, it's actually really like eating tomato sauce...


Friday was a really slow day, not helped by the fact that they fenced up the area for a parade. As Wednesday was the actual holiday for the show, and Saturday the day when the crowd came, Friday was rather... relaxing. The crew even had time to dance to radio songs, to the amusement of the random passerbys.


Then came the parade. These are calfs which have won some kind of judging, and are to be paraded around the stadium which is practically next door.



This is a goat, which I thought was a lamb until I asked. A dairy goat, the guy said. Of course, the blue ribbon means first place. Wow.


Work ended at 8, and as I prepared to go home on friday, I got a real treat.

Free beer.

A good one too.

The boss kept one fridge shut (no one was to open it), because he kept beer in it. Clever. He gave them out for free, and everyone just chatted and drank a bottle before heading back. One bottle is the limit for anyone who is about to drive, so some stopped at half a bottle. As I take a train, I had no worries about alcohol in my system.

With my ticket in hand, (Queensland rail uses paper tickets, which is like a receipt. It shows what type of ticket you are holding, single, daily, weekly, or whatever. $5 for a full day trip to the EKKA, with unlimited usage of buses and trains within zones 1 and 7, which is practically the entire area, unless I want to go to Goldcoast) I headed home via train after changing trains at Roma street. In all, the three days I had at the EKKA was nothing but fun, even though I was alone while I toured the area. But hey, being single means that I can do what I want, when I want. Advantages. Hehe


However, I am a little surprised by this sign which I saw at the police exhibit.

"Hello, operator here. Which department do you need?"

"I'M BLEEDING TO DEATH HERE. GIVE A GUESS?"

XD

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With the internet down yesterday, I decided to screw around a bit, and played with some picture I found on the net. The file name was labeled "Welcome_home", so I made that my theme as I worked on it.

I decided to only play with colour balance and curves, leaving out erasing and cloning after I got my image.



The result of playing with the curves. As I was using the touchpad, I accidentally pushed some values a little too high.

And hey, it worked out fairly well. As they say, accidents creates things, especially in the dark.

However, I realised it can only work for a dark image, as when I tried it with the brighter image which you see at the top, it looked like a true colour burn.

So, banner changed. Hehe.