Wanaka A&P Show and the Jack Russell Race!

Saturday 8 March

What a great day out at the Wānaka A&P Show - we went for the hysterical Jack Russell Race but stayed for the pet show, the stock parade, the sheep dog trials and of course the ginormous array of trade stands and artisan stalls. It was fab to meet up with Jonny & Debs for the day and a brilliant way for Louis & me to celebrate our 28th anniversary 🥰

Our first stop was the pet show where assorted animals were paraded around the ring for some very lenient judging - there were prizes all the way down to last place and a variety of categories... sometimes it was not easy to work out what they were... who thought chooks and guinea pigs would be competing, and on what basis are you judging them?!? Still, it was super cute, there were heaps of lovely dogs to meet and of course the overall champion was a goat - possibly the Greatest Of All Time?

After wandering through a few trade stalls - lots of things I never knew I needed, and some I am quite sure I do not need - we headed over to the main ring for the infamous Jack Russell Race. Unfortunately we were a tad late arriving and the crowds were thronging 5-6 deep all around the ring, with kids hanging off the back of scaffold grandstands and one guy up a ladder! Louis and I found a spot where we could peep through between a few heads and Jonny & Debs snuck away and found a great location at the entrance to the ring - hence Jonny's video gives a much better idea of the big event than my few snatched photos!

Safe to say though - the race and the subsequent attempts to round up 80 or so Jack Russells running riot was a highlight of the day - so much fun!

Following straight on after the doggie mayhem in the Main Ring was the Grand Parade - led by bagpipers, vintage cars, a fun kids trailer before the prize winning cattle and show ponies and horses got their moment of fame.

Feeling a tad peckish we went in search of food - the South American grill looked amazing, but there were free samples at the Silver Ferns marquee so we headed there for rump steak meatballs (delish). In the end Louis and the Websters plumped for a pulled pork wrap while I just salivated over various offerings and could not make a choice.

There was a whole section for what can loosely and gender specifically be termed big boys toys (and some for small boys too!). Louis declined to buy me a black & pink speedboat for our wedding anniversary - which is probably a wise move as we couldn't tow it behind Banjo!

No A&P show would be complete without stock judging and sheep herding so we checked that out. We missed the sheering and saw roughly 45 seconds of the farrier horse shoeing competition, but there is always next year...

Other stuff we saw along the way included bizarre toe shoes, kids on bungee trampoline, a $40K pod you could install on your land for kids, AirBnB or other purposes, heaps of woollen goodies (including a coffin and ashes container), jazzy Punk Pony gear, and egg collecting aprons!

Passing the pony gear with a rainbow assortment of crocheted ear covers one woman giggled to her husband - ooh, I thought they were bikinis!!!

Passing the Sotheby's tent I saw a bottle of Pimms, and wandered in and casually asked "How do you get a glass of that?" thinking it was just for prospective clients... "Nothing, just joins us for a glass" the lady said and poured one for me, one for Louis and one for her!!!

Over in the caravan section we cemented our view that Snowy was the brand for us (despite a few niggly issues) - helped by the fact all the other options were about 25% more expensive. We were rather taken by the barrel sauna, but again - not much use when you live in a caravan. Jonny invested in a super cool, quality local magazine run by a guy called Nathan and Louis finally bought a hat (but not the $180 whisky)

By now I was a zombie so we said farewell and hopped on our bikes to cycle back to Albert Town and a siesta.

Dinner at Wana Fusion in the evening rounded off a perfect day - here’s to many more! 🥂