When we arrived, the sun was shining brightly. As we parked the car nearby, our ears rang with the sounds of adolescents screaming vociferously as they dropped from incredible heights on vomit-inducing rides. The smell of deep-fried foods wafted over the heads of the thousands of people streaming through the gates.

This was the Royal Queensland Show, its formal name since its inception in 1876. For everyone today, it is known as the Ekka.

Ekka is short for ‘Exhibition’, and what an exhibition it is. From the sideshow alley, to the twirling, spinning rides, to the smell of the livestock as they patiently await their turn, the Ekka is a fantastic, albeit, expensive way to spend a family day together.

I’ll be the first to admit it: I am allergic to spending money on amusement park rides. As we walked through the alleys, the girls pleaded with us to fly down the fifteen-second slide. ‘It’s only three dollars, Daddy!’ they shouted. ‘Look at that!’ Greta said, ‘A trampoline!’ I walked to the window and asked how much it would cost for my daughter to jump on the exact same thing that is in our backyard. Chomping her gum like a cow with her cud, the bored-looking lady at the ticket window said, ‘Ten dollars. No refunds.’ Ten bucks? To jump on a trampoline?

I almost swallowed my uvula.

I looked at the expectant smiles of the girls. ‘You know, ladies, what would be really fun? Let’s go look at the animals! You don’t get to see cows and chickens very often, do you?’

Elsa rolled her almost teenage eyes. ‘We live in the Lockyer Valley, Dad.’

You can read the full story in the October 2011 edition, available from LCA Subscriptions. Full stories become available online three years after publication date.