Wild Food Festival 2012

My timing to the Chatham Islands couldn't have been better, as this is probably the biggest event of the year for the islanders! There was plently of food, beer, music and activities! There were lots of local delicacies, such as Paua Wontons, grilled Weka, stuffed mutton birds and plenty more sweet treats.

Most of the beers available were ones I hadn't heard of, although there were a few foreign exports and I was surprised there is no brewery on the island! There were several stalls serving hot foods but not being a massive fish/seafood fan, I went for a safe, meaty option! I had a venison burger with all the trimmings provided and I didn't actually get a picture - must have been enjoying it too much.

Although most stalls were food orientated, I did purchase a souvenir t-shirt for $30 as I doubt anyone from the UK will have one and it's just a bit different from the usual souvenir's available. So feeling like a bit of a tourist, I continued to the food stand with plenty of cakes! There were so many good looking cakes, but I went for a rocky road slice and caramel/choc chip slice, as I couldn't decide. I probably spent about $50 in total but it all goes to the locals and I got my money's worth. :D

When we arrived, (about an hour after kick off) there were children from one of the local school's singing. Overall, I would argue they were quite possibly better than the band provided, who were from Auckland! The band, the Foxymoronz sounded quite good, although they only did well-known covers and didn't appear to have any of their own songs.

As I visited all the stalls and had a general mooch around, I thought I'd go over to the speed shearing truck! There were several categories and I've never properly seen lambs being sheared before, so it was quite interesting for about 5 minutes. :P

Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took during my 2 hour visit.

The Cod Peace Cafe stand was serving hot foods and some souvenir t-shirts (that weren't brilliant). This stall is run by the same people as who own the land at Henga Scenic Reserve.

The speed shearing competition! The guy on the left was terrible compared to the guy on the right. He took about double the time to shear his lamb, not that I would be any good!

This is a probably showing about half of the stands that were on display, most of them serving hot, local delicacies.

This is again at the sheep shearing truck. I was told that the people who collect the sheep hair off are called rousers (I was told). This lady in the photo is a rouser.

This is the Foxymorons, who were the band from Auckland.

This is the venue for the event and is used a lot more in the summer time.

My souvenir t-shirt, which I think is pretty cool! $30, which is around £15, not too bad! :)

And finally, these are my two cake slics from the festival! By the time I got home to take pictures I had eaten half of each. They both tasted as amazing as they look!

The festival was open 11am-7pm, but I had visited all the stalls and had plenty to eat after 2 hours. I'm told it is more of a social event for the locals and it's the pub that will be the place to be this evening! Cheers :)