The Adelaide Show is finally over.  It has been an interesting 10 days and I have gone through a range of emotions: from excitement at the beginning, to confusion, then frustration, and finally annoyance mixed with exhaustion.

I was told I'd be working on an anime stall, and all I had to do was sell what I could, have a chat to customers and "have a good time", however I quickly found out that my gaffer wanted salesman of the year.  Within a few hours I was told I needed to speak to people more, on the second day they said if I didn't improve that afternoon I'd be sacked.

That's where I was confused, told I'd be doing one job but expected to do another.  I must have improved somewhat as they decided to keep me on until the end, but I didn't do as many hours as I thought I would and was sent home early most days (there's the annoyance part).  I did have some fun; on the last day me and the girl I worked with on the stall dressed up as anime characters - I dressed as Luffy from One Piece, there is a picture below.  I got paid $1,000 for the week, which not very good for 10 days work but I'm happy with it.

Helen's job was a nightmare; she only ended up working 5 days as she was told she was "not needed" the other times.  Also as the show was quieter than most years there were not many people to sell to and she didn't manage to sell much, which wasn't ideal as she was on 100% commission - at the time of writing Helen still hasn't been paid!

I feel the employers just take advantage of backpackers and there are stories of the stall owners disappearing without paying wages.  I got some good sales experience from working there but I won't be doing it again in a hurry.

As for the show itself: there was the usual pikey rides, toffee apples, candy floss, an eight year old dying from falling off a ride (she was too small and went flying out the carriage, they closed that particular ride but the show must go on!).  Some things were a bit different; they had wood chopping, pig racing and pig diving! The show was originally a horticulture show so there were other animals like cows and sheep hanging around.  Overall a nice day out but nothing special.

We are now having a think what to do next, I suppose we should look for more work - but there has been an influx of backpackers doing the same so things could be tough for a while.