This is a picture from the EKKA. So was the last one. This might be a trend for a while as I have about 5 or six pictures, plus some from Southbank but we will see which ones I use.
The EKKA. Not sure what I was going to write so let's just get started and see if I can remember.
We decided on the train as the best way to get there. I found out why you could not look it up beforehand. The station that is onsite is normally closed. There are no trains there. They only open it for special events, like the EKKA. So if you looked up how to get there on the train before the EKKA was started, it told you to take the bus or walk. Made no sense but I eventually figured it out.
As a side note, They are supposed to build a new station there. It is for the Olympics in 2032 that will be held in Brisbane. Brisbane has about 13 billion dollars committed to Metro improvements. New road, bridges, stations, and busses. Lots and lots of new things. None of them will reach all the way out to where we live but it is ten years away so we will probably have moved by then. Or some tragic event will have happened and this blog will have ended.
They are also building or improving a lot of new stadiums and event plazas for the Olympics. It will take place over a very large area, from north of us on the Sunshine Coast to south of Brisbane on the Gold Coast. Lots of different places and new buildings, or improvements to existing buildings. So lots of new construction that will interrupt our normal living until they finish. It all looks good in the drawings but we will see how it actually turns out. The Queens Wharf will be finished. A new hotel, shopping, tourist destination on the river across from Southbank they are currently building. I think that is supposed to be finished next year or in a couple of years. They have a new pedestrian bridge being built that is about halfway built. It was hit by the floods and while I did not hear anything of possible damage to it during that time, it has not made any progress I can see since then. It is impressive but only half finished so we will have to see what it looks like when they do finish it. It goes from the yet to be completed Queens Wharf and the big Ferris wheel on the other side of the river.
The Queens Wharf is a group of five high rise buildings with a hotel and apartments and shopping center in them. I have heard it is supposed to be a new casino also but the old one is next door and is a historical building so I am not sure they are allowed to replace that. The building will still be there but I have heard there will be a new casino in the new buildings. Not sure how that will work.
And now that I have wandered off topic from the EKKA, I will try to get back to it.
We were going to get on the train at Morayfield. I noticed that we did not have enough gas to take Shayla home after the show, so I decided to go get petrol from Costco since it is so much cheaper there. Since we were well past our normal station, I had to decide between one close to Costco or Petrie. Petrie would have been the better choice but I am never sure how to get there directly. I drive by it sometimes but I have never driven into it or know where the actual entrance is so I decided on Mango Hill, near Costco. The problem with that is you have to take the Redcliffe line to get there and that train stops at every stop along the way. Petrie, there are only two stops before you get to where we need to go. But we went to Mango Hill. Since it was the weekend, the train only runs once every half hour so we waited for 20 minutes for the next train. Maeghan has her wheelchair and no one was at the station to get the ramp to allow her to get on the train. No one got out of the train to do it either. We eventually just had her drive straight on, something she hates as the gap is sometimes too big and she is afraid her wheels will get stuck. This gap was not that large but still scary for her but she did it. While we were getting on, the train driver got out and shouted at us asking where we were going so they could have someone waiting with a ramp when we got there. A nice gesture but not really helpful.
They have special trains for the EKKA. They only go to four stops. Roma, Central, Fortitude Valley, and Exhibition. The show is at Exhibition. Fortitude Valley is the first one we come to on our train, so we got off there and waiting for the EKKA train. They run every five minutes so it was almost immediate that we got on. Then only one stop to the EKKA. Exhibition station is not built for wheelchairs. The gap is huge and the train is very much higher than the platform. They used a long ramp so it was not that bad but it was still a steep drop for Maeghan to drive down. She considered getting out of her chair and walking it down but decided to try it while sitting. Turns out that was not the biggest issue with the wheelchair. While the show is all paved, they have to run power lines everywhere and she frequently had to drive over the them. This presented a problem several times but she eventually got over all the ones we came across. Scary for her each time but she made it.
I think it was because they have not held the EKKA for three years but it was really, really crowded. Hard to get anywhere and hard to see things over all the people. As soon as we got there, Juanita had to eat. She went to the first place she found. I would normally try to see a few possibilities before I decided on something but she needs to eat when she needs to eat, diabetes, so we stopped and she and William had a breakfast burger. She talked me into getting an iced tea but it turned out to be a horrible tea that was very expensive so I did not make that mistake again.
Not knowing where anything was, I forgot the get a map, we did not know where to go first or where to go at all. There was cow milking right near the gate where we went in but there was a massive line of people going in and out of there and while we followed them in, there was lots and lots of cow patties in there and very little space to try to avoid them so we did not actually see any milking going on and we ended up just walking from one end and then back again. There were two shows going on and I could kind of see them across the crowds but Maeghan had no chance and the others had no interest so we got out of there. I think Maeghan still has cow poop on her wheels.
Next, we came to the dog pavilion. Still huge crowds, so you could not get close enough to the animals to see them. You could see a few that were out of their cages but for the most part, we did not see very many of the hundreds and hundreds of dogs that were in there. We did stop for a few minutes to see some of the judging, but it was really boring. We only watched one dog get judged and then we left. As we came out of there, we still did not know where anything was so we went down a couple of dead ends and walk arounds. We did see lots of horses but they were mostly in the barns and we were not allowed in there. They were taking a lot of them out to go somewhere so we got see them but the horse exhibit was non-existent as you are not allowed to walk through the barns.
As we came out of there, we came to the petting area. Line was wrapped around the building and I am not sure how long it would take to go through the exhibit, so I asked them if they wanted to wait and they all said no. I think they would have enjoyed it but it was so crowded, I am not sure they would have been able to get close to any of the animals, so we moved on.
From there, we were at the rides. We did not know it at the time, but this was the small kids ride area and not the big rides for the adults area. We went through it but did not see anything that interesting. Since I had pre-paid ride tickets, Shayla and William went into the fun house. Looked very boring and they seemed to confirm that when they came out but it costs $10 for each of them. If we have known at the time that there were more and better rides in the other pavilion, we would not have spent the money there but we did and they walked through it. Maeghan went to catch a bucket of fish. She won a small prize. Only one point away from the big prize but she got a small stuffed bear so she was happy.
Still having no idea where we should go or what was around, we went walking down some path. Still very crowded and we came to the cat pavilion. All the cats were in cages about ten yards away from where you were allowed to walk. There were benches there you could sit and watch the cats from. I think they might have done shows at different times but I did not go through the line to see what they did so I am not sure what the attraction was. Maeghan waited in the line and saw some of the cats but they were still a long way away from you and you could not really see them up close.
After that, we came to some buildings that had people selling things in them. Kind of like a flea market setup but indoors. It was our first chance to lose William. He wandered off. Instead of worrying about it, we just kept looking. Not really a lot of things I was interested in but it was shopping so Juanita and the girls had to look at everything. I went to the end of the first building looking for a place to sit down. Found William, at the entrance to the second building. He was buying something. Turning out to be a plastic throwing knife. I sat down and he was upset that I did not follow him in. He said there was something else he wanted. I told him we would go in there when the girls caught up so we waited for them.
Turns out the thing he wanted was a wooden sword. He said they only had two of them and the one he got was partially damaged. I should have been with him as I could have pointed out he should get a discount for the damage but he did it on his own and was really proud of himself. He had to carry it the rest of the day but he did not seem to mind. We did really see anything else we wanted. Maeghan looked at the little dolls or whatever it is they are called that she likes. They did not have any she did not already have. I think Juanita bought something also, but I don't remember what it was. Shayla bought something too, but not sure about that either. There were some interesting things at the end of this building. It was virtual reality chairs. It seems you put the headgear on and were strapped into a chair. The chair was then raised into the air and you went on a virtual reality adventure. We watched a guy on a roller coaster. The chair was raised up and down and tilted from side to side and then it was spun upside down. It looked interesting. There were several adventures you can choose from. Problem was, it was $40 to get on one. Way, way too expensive. Might have been fun for $15 or $20 but not $40. I am not sure how long the ride lasted but I am sure it wasn't more than a couple of minutes. We kept moving.
At this point, Maeghan and I were starting to get hungry. We came past a place that served meat on a stick. They had chicken and pork belly and something else I don't remember. I had the pork belly and Maeghan had the chicken, although she did not know I had bought hers already and she ordered another one so we had two. I gave the chicken to Juanita. There were two sticks with each order, so Juanita and I split ours, one stick chicken and one pork. The pork was delicious, the chicken not so much. We enjoyed it though. I was having to go to the restroom at this point and had to run off to try to find one. When we first walk in, there was a restroom every 20 feet it seemed but where we were now, I could not find one and ended up walking a long ways to find one. By the time I got back, they were ready to go but I was exhausted, but we moved on. On my travels, I saw one of the stages where people were singing. There were kids singing at this one. I told them but they did not want to stop and look so we went to the end of the building, which I thought was the food pavilion but turned out to be the agriculture building, where I had found the restroom. Maeghan and Juanita had to go. There was a coffee place right there but I stupidly suggested we go into the agriculture building to find a place to sit down and have coffee. They did not have one. After going through this, and it was very crowded so once again, you could not really see anything with all the people around, we had lost William again. The next building was the food pavilion and it was the biggest most crowded yet. No room to even walk and no room for Maeghan's wheelchair. We would move a few feet and then wait and then move a few more feet and move again. I was needing a place to sit down but all the tables and chairs were taken. We got almost to the end of the row before I spotted a table and sat down before someone else took it. They were all stuck in another part of the line but I waved them over. They did not come over and Juanita was yelling at one of the kids for a while, not sure why, but they did eventually make it to the table, after I had to fight some other people off from taking the chairs or sitting at the table with me.
While I was waiting, I sent William a message about where we were. I was not sure he would be able to find us but he eventually did. He was hungry and thirsty by then so I had to go find some food and drink while they watched the table. It was so crowded, I just got one of the first thing I came to. I got William some Dr. Pepper and Juanita a coke. I found a place that had a cheese plate and I got that for Juanita and I. It was ok but all the cheese tasted pretty much the same so it was not really a treat. While there, Juanita got me a show bag from the American store. That is where I had gotten the Dr. Pepper. Mine had A&W root beer in it. It also had a twinky and some other American stuff. I am not a big show bag guy but it is kind of obligatory when you go to the shows in Australia. I think we got some other things, I know the girls got some flavored teas in mason jars that you got to keep. Not sure what I got William to eat. I got a bag of caramel covered nuts, although it is not really caramel it is covered in but they are ok. I am eating them while I am typing. I got it only because I asked for boiled peanuts and they did not have any. Normally, this company has them but today they did not. I had already gotten a couple of drinks from them and felt guilty about not buying anything else, so when they said they did not have boiled peanuts, I got these.
At this point, lunch time, I am going to stop this entry. I can tell it is way too long already. I will finish the rest of the story some other time. Maybe today and have three entries from the same day. Probably not. But this had been a while and I have to eat lunch and think about doing some work. I did some work today, so my quota is filled for the day, but I am sure they will come to me with some things right before I leave again. It always happens that way. I am getting ready to leave and they come in and give me all kinds of problems. Last week, I just left. I was not going to try to investigate why someone's phone was not working on some parts of the building. That would require me to contact all sorts of people and try to figure it out and then find out that it was a user ignoring their phone. I am sure that is how that would have turned out. So I left. Going to try to do the same thing today.
So I am off. Be back soon. Have fun and don't lose your earrings. It sets a bad precedent.
Until next time
Later
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