On Friday morning we booked a bus trip to a local melon farm. A lot of seed producers from all over the world plant melons here and today was a Field Day. We sampled many different melons - honeydews, rock melons and watermelons (yes the yellow ones are watermelons) - all delicious. We also saw planting and harvesting machinery. We were able to talk to the seed producers/growers and got some tips on how to select the best melons at the markets.
The afternoon saw the festival really get off the ground. Growers wheeled in their melons for the Biggest Melon Competition. The winner weighed in at a massive 86kg, 1.5kg under the record of 87.5kg from a couple of years ago.
In the evening we went to the rodeo and saw some bull riding, bareback riding, bucking broncos and barrel races.
Saturday morning we were up early to check out the Bush Poets Breakfast. Great entertainment, and a delicious cooked breakfast in aid of charity. After breakfast we walked around the many market stalls. Saturday afteroon was full of fun activities with Melon Skiing, Melon Bungy and Pip Spitting competitions. Plenty of melons, and a good hose down needed afterwards.
Chinchilla also has a great museum. Very informative and spread out with several buildings including a cottage, a church and a schoolhouse. There's a Cypress Pine Interpretive Centre with exhibits about the local timber industry. For those who don't want to walk around there's a miniature train to ride on.
After Chinchilla we've headed east to the Sunshine Coast past sorghum paddocks with their red heads and green cotton fields. The weather has turned against us and it's raining. We'll be here for a couple of days getting some work done on the caravan, then will head south into New South Wales.
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