Steamfest

    Today we went to steamfest, we tend to go every year since we moved to the Hunter valley. Steam and vintage machinery is one of the more obscure things I like to geek out over that no-one else in any of my circles of friends seem to understand. I've always been interested in all the different ways power can be created mechanically, and steam power is so alien to anything modern I'd ever work on. Steam engines never became obsolete they where beaten

by better business strategies used to sell internal combustion engines.
Steamfest is more like a country fete then being just about the machinery, there's markets, carnival rides, camel rides and even a car show'n shine. But the main selling point of steamfest are the train and steam tractor rides.

It was good fun going around seeing the event. there were heaps of great old machines running around there. Old tractors, stationary engines, plenty of steam machines as well, even a later model stanley steamer (car). 

Whenever we go out Jamie and I almost always end up people watching, we get curious what other people do at events like these, I know why I enjoy seeing the old bits of gear but I think I'm a bit unique in my interests. (getting a bit off topic) As we walk around we noticed there were only a few types of people there and most fit into categories 

- Farmers - it's a relatively rural area and there are a lot of local farms, seems only reasonable that they'd be at a large social even which has plenty of old farm equipment(even live sheep shearing).

 - Families - Pretty obvious why they're there, fun games, camel rides, big shiny noisy things and even rides on miniature steam trains 

- Fans - Like me there were a few couples I saw and (usually the guy) one of them was excitedly explaining to their partner what they were looking at and how it works/ what it's significance was. But the one thing I didn't expect, would never expect was 

A few sneaky steam punk cosplayers over my shoulder

- Cosplayers - no joke there were a few groups of people getting around steamfest, walking in the dirt around greasy machinery dressed in steam punk attire. And it wasn't just one or 2 either, I think the count was about 12, and not even together it was 2 or 3 groups getting around. 

Connor seemed indifferent to the entire affair until we were walking around the park nearby, He's a bit obsessed by trees, plants and just touching leaves in general.

The stanley steamer was a bit of a standout for me, they're pretty rare especially these later model ones in working order. 

It was a good fun day but next time(like we say every time we go) we'll definitely remember our hats and sunblock.

                        MAT