Yes that really is in stark contrast. The Australian shows I have gone to have been awful. No food or beer anywhere, pickpockets and muggers round every corner. Certainly no fairground rides and definitely no rare animals! We did have some fun watching the transported criminals get publicly flogged - oh how we laughed! But it was so hard to see through the mosquito nets!!! In stark contrast I recall a show I went to in England - they had gone to so much more effort. The walkways were paved with gold and people in Victorian costume handed out free maps and diamonds as you walked past!! It rained a bit when we queued up to get our complimentary Sunday Roast but they just fired rain dispersing shells into the clouds and a giant rainbow came out that spelt my name!!!! I HEART England!!!

Please put me out of my misery. What's a 'show bag'?

I have got a cloth bag which my Aussie friend's mum sent to me which is for 'Beef Week' in Casino (which is a country town in northern NSW or southern Queensland). Is that a 'show bag' or do they normally put freebies inside them?

I'm originally from Warwickshire so have had many trips to the Royal Show at Stoneleigh (nr. Kenilworth/Leamington Spa/Warwick/Coventry) and we used to even go there on school trips. Each day a member of royalty turns up, sometimes even the Queen. I met Princess Alexandra once, only 'cos I was at the Marks & Spencers food court getting some sarnies and she went to shake hands with the staff and customers

PS: the last day of the Royal Show is good - the vendors are trying to get rid of all the food - from prime steaks to olives - so sell it off for next to nothing, and at the pavilions and hospitality tents they give away the gorgeous plants and flowers (eg. huge baskets of fuschias).

Ooooh, I miss the Royal Show - it's a huge event and is open just for farmers for the first couple of days, then it opens to the public. I was in England about 3 years ago when it was on and took my little nephew....he adored the tractors, combine harvesters, JCB's etc. and seeing all the prize cattle and (rare breeds) of pigs, sheep and ponies in the pens or show rings.

We saw the showjumping, dressage and police dogs jumping over an 'assault course', he sat in the new Range Rovers and Landrovers, met the beekeepers with their hives, had loads of free samples of food (cheeses, honey, jams, mustards, cold cuts of meat etc.) and saw cookery demonstrations but I was driving so couldn't try the beers! We also browsed around the country craft market.

Some years ago the Radio 1 Road Show would broadcast annually from the Royal Show and even now, the local TV media still does a daily report live from the show).

I've been to the State Fair (New Jersey) over here and it isn't anywhere near as good as the Royal Show.....it's good though if you want to see the highlight of the show - the lumberjacks sawing away as fast as possible with their 'Stihl' chainsaws (oh well, at least we got a free baseball cap lol!).

It's a plastic carrier bag with company sponsor logo on and inside are things like stickers, lollies (sweets), and plastic toys in the (for example) Sesame Street/Simpsons bags. Then you get the 'bags' targeted at teens with make up samples, bracelets, hair clips etc in.

There are usually a couple of really really good ones. We went to the show a couple of years ago and with a money off voucher from the paper got a Supre Bag (Supre is a clothes shop for teens/small adults) with a proper handbag, a t-shirt and some half decent samples of moisturiser, nail varnish and stuff teens like. We paid $10 for that one and I would say there was at least $50 worth of stuff but the bags vary from $3 up to $50 and maybe even more now.

One bag I saw advertised was a Lindt bag full of chcocolate - no idea how much that was.

If you google Show Bags at Perth Show they might have a list so you can see just how many there are

[QUOTE=crystal23;7973172]You forgot to mention Guess The Weight of The Chicken Competition :lol


No way ,not guess the weight of the chicken , is that a world competition i wonder as ive never seen it in the uk or anywhere else for that matter .Seen it in coles a lot but they are dead and certainly not fluffy .

Originally show bags started as a way to advertise products. You got a bag full of goodies and they were generally free. Over the years and consumerism being what it is, the companies started charging for the bags whilst taking stuff out so now you can pay $20 for a bag of vouchers, a packet of chips and a cheap toy. Massive business at shows but a total waste of money and for some parents, it would seem the only way to have a quiet child.

Classic....................mm

what I loathe most of all about the Royal Melbourne show- no extra day off to allow us to attend. We are expected to go in our own time.

Feel ripped off.....I am sure in UK we would get a month's holiday to recover from it all.

must have been the same shows i went too . The english always seem to put on the better show .

Except when it comes to sport.............mm

who cares about sport. sport was invented for the colonials to stop them from getting bored .