Day: 23 January 2011

This is a holiday weekend in the Wellington region, hence the ability to enjoy a bumper selection of events.

On Saturday Sara scratched her seven year itch-we made it to an agricultural show. We chose th better of the 2 days to go; the weathr was much better, and the wood choppers were active, as well as the show jumping.

The axemen (women) were excellent, a fascinating talent, which Sara spent most of the day watching. Most of them were big blokes, but also fit with great endurance. The better ones managed to swing with great speed. The competitions were handicapped, similar to have a golf handicap, based on previous success. There were even two competitors from Austria and England, over here to improve their skills!

The show jumping went on all day. The horses were fantastic specimens. However, looking at the equipment on show, competing in these events appears to be a horrendously expensive sport.

Sheep dog trials were part of the action, though it did not seem to compare with “One man and his dog”.

We walked around the sheds to see the varieties of sheep, pigs, cows and birds, and watched the judging of the various categories.

A beautiful day, and I am sure will be keeping in touch with our country side again.

Friday evening was a novel event. It was a special family outing to the speedway track  to watch saloon car racing, at Wellington Speedway.

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The event was a different one: watching a variety of classes of cars whizzing around a dirt track, with plenty of nose and exciemement. It was good fun with the noise and roar of the engines producing excitement, nip and tuck racing giving drama, and a little bit of bash and crash emphasising the risks involved.
There were standard road saloon cars racing, then two classes of powerful racing designed saloons. The bigger cars must have been using a mixture with ethanol because they produced a differnet smell as they powered by.

Myself and the boys had a tip to the pits to see the motors up close. It was a realiation to see how many back up crew were needed to keep the car and driver on the track. A cheap sport I think not.

Sara had a good night, with memories of Nottingham days evoked.

It is noteworthy that no alcohol was allowed in the ground, either brought in on bought in the venue. I do not think there were too many people from Khandallah there. Lots of families, who Sara decided watched rugby league in the winter, and speedway in the summer.

We left a little early as we had been stupid enough not to bring sufficient warm clothing, but it was a good value evening. we will go again.