Murrumbateman Field Days 2012

As usual at this time of year we headed over to the village of Murrumbateman for the Field Days.  It is always enjoyable (except for the year it snowed) which is interesting as it is basically a big sales display, rather than a set of entertainments.

We arrived somewhat before 11am, an hour after the gates opened to find the car park pretty full.  It is important to note some landmarks when parking or there could be a long wait to find your car at the end!
 The main track inside the event was also well endowed with people.
 Having said there were not many entertainments the tractor pulling event was going well with a very varied range of equipment strutting its stuff.  We didn't see this one with a load on so don't know how it went.
 This image shows how the 'pull' works.  The tractor drags the sled up a bit of paddock, while the big yellow weight on the sled slides forward.  This places more load on the tractor and presumably the one which gets furthest wins.
This was an old steam driven engine that appeared to be wood wood burning.  I was most interested in the dog perched on top of the fuel!  In this case in particular it was a case of "boys with their toys" but it was harmless fun.
Alongside the tractor pull various historical machinery societies were displaying their collections.  While sitting in front of an old engine chugging away is not the way I would spend two days the collectors have obviously put in  lot of hours restoring their specimens.  According to the sign this Lister engine was retrieved from a wombat burrow.  I have no idea why a wombat would need a motor!
I also have no idea why 2 cops rode their horses through the event.  They peered closely at a couple of exhibits but I think that was more contemplating purchases when off duty rather than anticipating a breakdown of social order as a result of the merchandise on offer.  It also gave the horses a bit of exercise!
Having encountered the Light Horse on our trip to Harden the Field Days featured someone done up as a member of the Regiment  explaining all their kit.
What is this crowd looking at?
A bloke in a blue shirt wrestling a sheep.  Despite the sheep's best efforts, and its reluctance to give a submission,  I think the shearer was up up by a pin-fall at this stage.
Available for shearing was this llama.  We spoke for some time with the exhibitor who was obviously a great fan of the beasts.  Although she picked that the place we had seen them before was Peru she pronounced the word as though it was that for a Tibetan priest rather than the Spanish 'Yama' (or the Andean "Jama").
There were also a good lot of alpacas around.  These images reflect their cuteness and show the range of colours.

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