Sofala Show

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Once again Margaret & Ian headed off to Sofala to participate in the annual show. Ian had decided to have a go in the chain sawing competition this time and took his chain saw gear up with him. We set up a basic camp at the Sofala showground and then quickly took our photographs down to the pavilion for judging before heading off to find the park where the chain saw event was being held.

There was some fierce competition, especially as one of the competitors had been Australian Champion for some years running. Ian had never competed before but really learnt a lot from watching the boys. They were all really friendly and helpful and did not mind giving him some pointers on technique.

The event was run by a local store Brennan's Chainsaw and the money raised was going to the local school. They even let the competitors use their chain saws, chaps and other gear to compete in the events.

Ian really enjoyed himself and did well considering he was up against men who were used to competing in this type of event.

We returned to camp and set the camper facilities up properly as Ian had some cooking to do before the next morning. We had bought a new gas stove so were anxious to see how it handled the cooking. Before long Ian had his beer damper under way in the oven & you could smell the aroma filtering through the campsite. Next was another damper and then some plain and date scones were underway. We didn't have tea as we filled up on the 'leftovers' and boy they were sure tasty...especially the date scones.

I had to make the chocolate icing for my slice so once that was done and after washing up the pots & pans, we headed off to bed for a good night sleep

Morning came around fast and Ian had his muffins to do in the morning and I had to make the meringue for my tarts. We turned over the generator and I mixed up the meringue with my electric beater and got the tarts into the oven to brown. We had a number of people come up to us as they thought we were catering for the show in our trusty little kitchen.

The rain had started by this and after getting some photos of all our cooking we were wondering how we were going to get it down to the tent for judging. Ian came up with a brilliant idea and we walked the table down to the pavilion... much to the delight of the sheepdog trial judges who thought we were bringing them morning tea !!!!!

Once all was booked in we headed back to camp to clean up and cook up some breakfast. Once again we had some people drop in to buy some food and we also had some people take shelter from the rain under our awning. We had some great chats with these people and found out a lot about their lives and where they came from and what they did for a living and what drew them to the Sofala Show.

Once breakfast was over we headed off to have a good look around the show and take in all the various exhibits. We headed back to the Pavilion to find that we had really done well in the cooking section this year with 4 first's and 6 seconds between us. We even each had a personal best.....

Ian got a First in Photography for his terrific Sunset at Anna Bay

Margaret was awarded the President's Ribbon for the Best Exhibit in the Show for her cake

Wow were we excited and everyone congratulated us. Ian even got a second for our home grown tomatoes that he entered.

Once all the auctioneering was over for the food, we picked up our winnings, packed up the camper in the rain (yuk) and said our goodbyes to everyone and headed off home after a successful weekend.

A big thanks to all the Sofala people who made the Show such a professionally run event again and we will certainly be back again next year.