Eating too many avocados is apparently destroying Western democracy or something, so we did our best to speed up the downfall of civilisation as we know it by going to the Blackbutt Avocado Festival on the weekend. (Blackbutt, one of my very favourite small towns, is less than an hour’s drive from Lochanbar, and has hands down the best bakery with the best pies and sweet dishes I’ve ever eaten in Australia. Catch up on other events in the area through this facebook page.)
We watched the parade, listened to the opening ceremony, watched the parade, watched the wonderful reptile show by Dreamtime Reptiles, did not throw or roll any avos because I hate wasting food (and especially expensive luxury vegetables), did spend lots of money on photos from the Blackbutt Camera Club (which will soon be up on the walls at Lochanbar), and not so much money on some lovely pottery rice bowls (already in the crockery drawer at Lochanbar 
” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” />” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” /> ), and ate some extraordinarily delicious foods based on avocados – chocolate avocado mousse (so good we went back twice ” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” />” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” /> ), and an avocado lemon dessert, avocado lassi, and guacamole (of course ” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” />” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” /> ) from an ‘Indian food’ caravan stall whose name I wish I had written down (it’s a purple caravan.)
We had an absolute ball, and will definitely go back next year if possible. So far we are two for two on vegetable related festivals in the area being great fun!
Elegant stilt walkers in the Festival parade
A young girl is dubious about the attraction of this snake being demonstrated by Dreamtime Reptiles
Um…parade characters
A heart transplant patient who was ‘staying alive’ mid-operation and mid parade, courtesy of the local medical centre
Violet ringneck, one of the fancy birds on sale and display at the festival
Festival mascot – whoever this is, they don’t get paid enough
A gentleman representing the Australian Light Horse. His beautiful horse was extraordinarily patient with people launching themselves at him without warning to pet or stroke him
An inland taipan, also known as a Fierce snake – officially the most venomous snake in the world, on display through Dreamtime Reptiles
Mr Avo gets around, this time with local dignitaries as the Festival is officially opened
And extremely dry air, which the already desiccated landscape could have done without. But slowly the temperatures rose, so we went from huddling under blankets with the heating on, to having all the windows open and wondering if we might need to turn the fans on.
]
