Royal New Zealand Show

Welcome to the Royal New Zealand Show!

Held every spring, for 3 days, the kids are given a day off from school so they can attend. It started many years ago so the farmers could bring their best animals and compete to see who had the best sheep, or cow, or goat. Nowadays, they still bring their animals, but there are also rides, and different ethnic foods, and things to buy. Here's a sampling of what I saw at the show:

Cow and Bull Contests

Did you know that there are many different types of cows and bulls? Each type had its own competition at the show. Here are pictures of just a few that I saw.

The bull in the top picture is the largest bull I saw at the show. The brown bull next to it looks very different, doesn't it? The boy has a miniature cow. Her baby, right behind her is even smaller. The man with the long beard is dressed in a traditional Scottish kilt. He has a long-haired cow. I remembered seeing these wonderful beasts in Scotland.

When it was time to enter the contest, the owner would lead the animal around a pen in front of the judges. They won ribbons and trophies. Did you notice that the brown bull won a ribbon? Winning awards makes the farmers' animals more valuable.

Rooster Contests

I also enjoyed seeing the many different kinds of roosters! I had no idea that there were so many different kinds. Many of them were crowing and making an incredible amount of noise!

Sheep Contests

There were many different types of sheep there. I thought about the nursery rhyme, "Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?"

These sheep had lots of wool! Not only were there awards for the best sheep, but also for the best wool. In this picture on the left, you can see some of the award winning wool.

Rides & Food

There were also plenty of carnival rides for the kids. A funny one I saw was a giant slide. It looked like the Titanic sinking. Can you see the boy sliding down it in the picture below? Remember, if you want to enlarge a picture just click on it. Then click the back button to return to the blog page.

After looking at all the animals I was starving, so I headed over to one of the food vendors. I bought a chicken kabob (pieces of barbecued chicken on a stick). It was yummy. I also bought a piece of homemade fudge. It was melt-in-your-mouth good!

Human Contests

After lunch I was ready for some more action, so I watched the chopping competitions and the sawing competitions.

In the chopping contest, the lumberjacks stood on top of their log. When the whistle blew, they began chopping furiously! The first one to chop all the way through, to split the log in half, was the winner!

There were many different sawing competitions. In the picture above, the lumberjacks had to use a two-handled saw to cut through the pole. There was another team trying to beat them, so there was lots of yelling and cheering. Everyone was having fun!

There were also lots of vendors at the show. They are the people selling things. You could buy a handmade toy, or clothing, or a tractor for your farm, or a new-and-improved milking machine for your cows!

On my way out, I saw the horseback riders practicing with their horses. Their events would be held later on in the day.

There was so much to do and see at the Royal New Zealand Show! Now I understand why the children were so excited about it coming to town! What would you go see if you could go to the show?