Last time I went to the Melbourne show the year was 1984 and I went along with my Mum and Nanna as a small child with big dreams of living the carnie lifestyle. For the last few years I have been desperate to go back but somehow never made it and ended up feeling sad and let down by my inability to organise a day out. After 28 years away from the hallowed grounds in Flemington (except for Life Instyle a few months back, but the dog pavilion looked a lot different back in August) I finally returned.





They had a cat show. We stood for 40 minutes watching them judge the cats. This cat performed particularly well in the swimsuit category.




I'm going to apply for a stand at Finders Keepers and totally rip this guy off. It will be called:






How strong are you? Pay $6 to find out. If you are very strong you will win a giant Spongebob Squarepants soft toy to carry around until you complain that your arms hurt and hand it over to your Mum.



Did you know hipsters model their hair on barnyard animals?




When Devo wrote their hit song WHIP IT they pictured this guy whipping polystyrene cups off a stand.



We got to try fancy Victorian ciders.




We saw this circus act with a man who is a famous clown from the USA and his friend, a man in a sparkly cops uniform.


I give the show a big tick of approval. Gareth and I had a total wow of a time, although he was not willing to join me on the cha cha style ride and we didn't win an over sized Spongebob Squarepants toy.