'aRoo with a View.: finch hatton FUN.

a couple of weekends ago, we met up with jo and keith for a bit of local flavor. we went to the heritage festival in finch hatton gorge – about an hour west from where we live.

the heritage festival is basically a big carnival with all the carnie rides, but also a local competition. there were first, second and third places for breeds of chickens (as the australian’s say – chooks), cows, photos, flowers, dogs and many many other things that i am failing to mention here, but will elaborate more later. there is also a lumberjack and horse show jumping competition – separate events, of course.

the festival was one of the coolest local events i have been to in australia; i’m sure largely because i am a huge animal lover.

so, get ready because there are lots and lots of photos here... enjoy!

how cute is this little baby chihauha puppy? i love holding puppies (if you can't tell).

and look at this FACE!!! i mean, really?? who wouldn't love all those rolls?

there were zero, zip, nil, nada bella (japanese chin) dogs at the festival, but this one reminded me most of her. this is a cavalier spaniel - which makes sense since japanese chins are from the spaniel and pug families. i know, too much bella information. what can i say? i miss my little girl.

this picture is from the far side angle of the fair site. i just thought it was kind of a cool photo with the horses and ferris wheel in the background. pituresque, if you will.

now for the strangest part of the show, for me. cows. these cows were pampered, pampered, pampered. never in my life have a seen a cow that wasn't just hanging out in a paddock, eating grass. or, on it's way to, well... you know. but these cows were actually really pretty and so well tamed!! look at this cutey patooty!

and this one let jo and i pet it, but not without him rubbing his head on our legs (hence jo's stance).

here are the cows parading around while being judged - yes, there was a cow judge. all very interesting. my favorite one was the one in the back.

but, this is the cow that took first (see the blue ribbon on her head).

and my fave took second. isn't she beautiful, though? with that unique coloring... loved her. oh by the way, i am a vegetarian now... just kidding, but i really did consider it...for about 5 seconds.

they even had itty bitty pig races... which were fun and the kids there loved it!

taking second to the cows, i was exceptionally fascinated by the hen house as well. there were HUNDREDS of birds in here and all so unique and well manicured.

look at these two love birds.

and these frillbacks were so sweet. i think they were a little frightened, but they had each other. i don't know if you can tell in this picture as well, but their feathers are so romantic looking and all curly. so neat.

couldnt' pass up taking a picture of this classic. how statuesque, right?

and, i'm not positive (and i'm sure many of you just don't care), but i am pretty sure this is the chicken that tori and dean mcdermott-spelling have as a pet in their household. i have seen it a couple of times and always wondered what it was. well, they had them here!

believe it or not, this bird is ~~not stuffed~~ alive and kicking. doesn't it look so nostalgic??

and this was the veiw of the fairgrounds from the ride we were on. i just loved the classic fair feeling of everything.

this was more unbelievable than anything... this is the fruit vegetable stand that, you guessed it, was being judged for best fruits in each subcategory.

oh, and we can't forget the egg competition... BEST EGG! it's the little things in life...

they had classic carnival food like this (i may or may not have had a corn dog)...

but we were told we couldn't pass up the max baked potato stand. i had ham, cheese and sour cream while jim had prawns (shrimp), cole slaw and sour cream. both were delish!

the equestrian show was also really neat. i had never seen anything, in person, like it before so I was particularly excited.

the lumberjack competitions were pretty fascinating... i know i keep saying fascinating, neat, cool, but everything was fascinating, neat, cool so you will have to excuse my repetitiveness. i think i could have just sat on the bleachers and watched this all day. the participants were primarily seniors, but there were a few younger participants as well. basically, the idea is to be the first one to chop through a large log of wood. the order in which participants were able to begin chopping on their wood is based upon past scores. in other words, the participants who have a good track record have a handicap that is sometimes as much as 30 seconds after the first chopper begins chopping on their log. Here are a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure.