Thousands attend opening weekend of 145th annual Ekka show

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Queensland's largest annual event - the ekka - is underway in Brisbane.

Transcript

00:00The annual Echo Show is well and truly underway here at Brisbane's Showground.

00:06There's been thousands of people that have been herding through those gates behind me

00:10since Saturday for its 145th year.

00:13Now speaking of herds, let's go check them out.

00:18The Beef Stag Competition is the largest showing of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

00:22Around 1,200 beef cattle will be paraded around the arena over the next week, just like my

00:27mate over here, Brendel VB.

00:32Well in true Queensland style, it's not a show without an Echo staple.

00:36Now I'm joined by the gorgeous Chloe Nguyen from The Common Good.

00:39Chloe, tell me, these are desserts, but desserts for the cause.

00:42That's right, they're not just a once a year treat that comes out to the Echo.

00:45All proceeds from these Echo Strawberry Sundaes actually support research, patient care programs

00:51and equipment at the Prince Charles Hospital, which is actually Australia's leading cardiology

00:55hospital.

00:56How wonderful.

00:57Now tell me, what's the secret behind the perfect strawberry sundae?

01:01Look, I don't think it's a secret that these are absolutely delicious, but what goes into

01:05it is really special.

01:06So we have over 20 tonne of ice cream made right here in Brisbane by Lick Ice Cream.

01:11Over six tonne of farm fresh strawberries that are picked overnight in Wamaran.

01:15But I think what the most special thing is the 2,000 volunteers, some of them who are

01:19right here behind us, who put all of their heart and soul and volunteer their time serving

01:23up these treats to show goers.

01:28Now what's an Echo without these adorable creatures?

01:31The Animal Nursery is where all the fun's at and the lovely James Kemp has got the wonderful

01:37job of being able to take care of all these cute, cuddly friends.

01:40James, how did you get this gig?

01:42Oh, I've been doing it for 26 years, so to be honest, I'm too old to remember.

01:46No, that's not true.

01:47It was about teaching people about farm animals and this is where it ended up.

01:54Well, of course, it's not a show without a good old wood chopping competition.

01:58I'm joined by 12-year-old Archie Head, who's one of the youngest competitors.

02:01Archie, tell me, how did you get into wood chopping?

02:04Well, we all started out with little wooden axes and following our friends and all that.

02:09And we progressed up to steel axes and then up to bigger axes like these ones.

02:16How good.

02:17Can you give me a bit of a demo?

02:19How do you exactly do a really good wood chop?

02:22Well, what you want to do is you want to start with your left hand.

02:25If you're left-handed or right-handed, you want to start with your left hand down here

02:29and your right hand on top of it, basically.

02:31And then you're going to bring it up and slide your hand up

02:36and then you're going to just basically drop it.

02:38How cool. That is so awesome.

02:41It's just one of the many things that you can do here at the ECCA Show.

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