I had been planning this event for a few weeks as it meant that I had to organise accomodation in Launceston and food and kids stuff. We made our way up on friday night pretty much straight after I had finished work for the day. This meant that we left about 6.30pm, we decided that we would have dinner along the way somewhere.
We were pretty excited about the trip as we had heard that we would be able to get lots of bargains for our property and ourselves no doubt. We were about to see what we could find.
The drive is a pretty easy one really considering it is only about 180kms long, but as we found out every man and their dog was thinking about doing the same thing. The road was bumper to bumper with traffice and this included very large trucks.
Travelling in the middle of Tassie at night is unreal. The sky is jet black and the stars are so bright it is fantastic. The kids were all set, they had their portable DVD players that we got when we were in Adelaide and so all they had to do was watch a dvd and soon enough they were asleep anyway. Quiet trip really.
About 8.00pm we reached a beautiful little town called Campbelltown. We love stopping at this town as it is really pretty during the day and there is a large park with playgrounds and things to keep the kids occupied along the way. We stopped at the only cafe that was open for the night and had dinner, fantastic meals were had by all, then it was on our way again to make our way to Launceston.
We hit Launceston at 9.30pm and were really ready to crash by then. We stayed in the Launceston Backpackers. We were a little dubios I must admit about the place but when we arrived we soon relaxed. I had heard really good things about the place and it was cheap. It was pretty cold when we got to Launceston but we did not care bed was all we could think about.
We had a dorm all to ourselves and set up our bedding and crashed for the night knowing that we had to get up really early in the morning for another exciting day.
Saturday AGEST day May 2nd
After a decent nights sleep and our little alarms going off at around 7am we got up and headed downstairs for breakfast. Being that we were staying in a backpackers, this meant that we supplied our own food, that was ok because even if we stayed in a caravan park we would have to do the same. I figured that the nights would be cold and I could not be bothered opening our tent for two nights either that is why I decided that we would stay inside, a wise move. Breakfast was soon over and we headed outside, OH MY GOSH... it was freezing, and FROGY.. as Kai calls it. We could see though that beyond the fog was sun and it was going to be a glorious day.
AGFEST is held in a little place called CARRICK, which is about 15-20mins out of Launceston heading west. About 5 mins into the journey we discovered that most of the other people on the road this morning were going the same way. I wasnt too worried as I had been told that the event is extremely organised and parking is not an issue at all. The event started at 8am, we got there at around 8.30 . There were people directing us to car park spots and everything went off without a hitch.
The kids were well looked after, they had name tags with our phone number of them incase they got lost along the way, we discovered that this worked very well as various times during the day we heard kids names being called out over the loud speaker. Many of the stalls catered for the kids, having activities and stickers to keep them occupied.
Rebecca, Monte and the kids were also making their way up aswell and we were meeting up with them soon. When they got there the kids found a cow to pat and try and feed.
After having a bit to eat and leaving the boys to look at some of the tools and machinary that they could only dream about having, Rebecca, Georgia, Tao and I went for a walk to try and find the craft area. After walking quite a few lanes and talking to some people at the Centrelink stall we finally found what we were looking for. Along the way though we were constantly stopped by the kids wanting to touch things....
For Example
As you can see the kids were in their element.
Our main aim was to try and get some rainwater tanks at a really good price. We got some prices but bumped into our neighbour Michael and he seemed to have got a good deal so we left it in his hands in the end to see what he could do for us aswell.
We managed to get ourselves some drizabones and got a really good deal on them, Jamahl got a couple of tools and we both got some new pruning shears. We luckily did not spend too much, but a good had was had by all. We all lasted until about 3pm and then the kids started to lose the plot and it was time to go.....
There were so many people and so many stalls to look at, we were pretty excited and decided that we would definitley be back next year and probably on our own. After going to the pub for dinner we headed back to the backpackers for a very early night, 7pm. We all needed it. What a fantastic weekend so far....
Sunday 3rd May
We awoke to more fog and then rain. Breakfast was a bit later this morning thank god, the alarms got up a little later. We had planned on going to Dr Harry's farm this morning on our way home but soon decided that we would just go straight home and get some work done, like cleaning up and getting organised for the coming week. After stopping at Ross and going to a market and having a coffee we were on our way again and got home at midday.
Wow what a weekend.... a great one at that. There is probably so much more I could say about it but I am pretty tired at the moment thinking about it.
See ya....
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