Day 181 - The Ceduna Oyster Festival

The weather Gods smiled on us today as we attended the Ceduna Oyster Festival.  A 300m walk put us right into the centre of the action on the Ceduna foreshore.

041014 Ceduna foreshore looking north

041014 The jetty at Ceduna

041014 The foreshore looking south

041014 The Ceduna foreshore with festival on the RHS

The Festival commenced at 9.30am and sadly there were not too many people around.  We thought this might be a bit of a fizzer but, by 12 noon, the place was hopping and we had to queue for oysters and also for a later lunch.

041014 The crowds were small at 9.30am

041014 Crowd picking up

041014 Crowd improving by 11am

041014 The crowd at lunch time

There were sideshow rides, stalls of many kinds, entertainment for the children, dare devils in planes and oyster shucking and fish filleting competitions.  There were bands, singers and the local dancing studio put on a show.  

041014 This jumping site did not frighten the kids

041014 And what a clear blue sky 

041014 More clear blue sky

041014 The older kids loved these

A small street parade provided an opportunity for the local services and businesses and a couple of clowns to strut their stuff.

041014 The Festival Parade

041004 Noisy cars were a feature of the parade

041014 There was even a camel in the Parade

041014 A clown in the parade

Now for the oysters. A picture is worth a thousand words so below is one which explains their origin and life cycle.  This did not explain that they tasted beautiful, a fresh tangy sea taste, and they were plump and firm.  We indulged of course, a second time, because we had some as an entree for last night's dinner. C'est magnifique!!!

041014 The story of the oyster in this area

041014 Oyster anyone?  These are Smoky Bay oysters - our entree last night

Late in the afternoon the breeze off the bay strengthened and it became overcast, so we left the festival still swinging along, with a program which goes into the evening and all day tomorrow.