Australian Amusement Fanatics

Yeh the biggest and best regional show in NSW and maybe Australia starts next weekend opened from the 23rd - 25th of April. The show is basically tradition for me, have been going there since the age of two, so I never miss it. Will be good to see if any AAF members come to the show, it's well worth it. Rides going so far, with one massive draw-card going for the first time includes:

Pirate's Revenge
Crazy Coaster
Sky Flyer
Sky View Wheel
Rock N Roll
Freestyle
Space Roller
Haunted Hotel
Wave Swinger
Top Gun

Great lineup so far, will of course only get bigger and better, I'll be working there again this year so come say hi anyone that turns up.

Cheers
Top Gunner14

Nice to see the Top Gun getting in on a major billing show. Have a big one guys!

Boy am I excited about this year's Hawkesbury Show! Like you TG, I have been to every Hawkesbury Show since I was 2 and I've never been disappointed with the size of the carnival. Last year was the only one I missed because I was overseas...

By the way, will ANZAC Day affect operating hours at all? I know most businesses are not allowed to open until around midday, is this the case with Hawkesbury too? If so, would the show operate later into Sunday night to compensate? The standard closing time for Sunday is 5:00 PM.

Is Dennis Shipway still involved with the show, does anyone know

I'd say the show will operate under normal opening hours, couldn't see them changing it all around. Couldn't see the show operating on SUnday night. Anyway just got back from the showground a short time ago. Plenty of gear has showed up, will post photos soon. Ride lineup at the moment:

Alpine Express
Space Roller
Haunted Hotel
Samba Balloon Race
Freestyle
Ferris Wheel
SKy View Wheel
Hurricane
No Limit
Magic Circus
Pirate's Revenge
Crazy Coaster
Sky Flyer
Crazy Cars
Dodgem Track (Townsend's)

2 B-doubles of the flume were there, the other two were on there way. One trailer for the Crazy Coaster wasn't there, the main trailer for Haunted Hotel wasn't there and Freestyle was in the mid stages of set-up. Most of the trailers were just sitting on the paddock waiting for set-up to get underway. And it'll be interesting to see the 2 Reverchon machines next to each other, Pirates and Crazy Coaster are sited right next to each other, photos soon

Cheers
Top Gunner14

What no Hardrock?

Look forward to seeing photos Topgunner

Hard Rock did the show once in 2007, went pretty shocking and never came back, both that and Power Surge were sited next to each other and they didn't do to well. That year was probably the biggest and best line-up we'd had

Photos from this arvo:

Alpine Express:



Crazy Cars:



Dodgem Track (Townsend's):



Crazy Coaster:





Energy Storm:



Freestyle:







Hurricane:



Magic Circus:





No Limit:





Pirate's Revenge:





Rock N Roll:





Samba Balloons:



Sky View Wheel:







Sky Flyer:



Space Roller:







Ferris Wheel:



Enjoy, I'll be back on Monday getting more photos

Cheers
Top Gunner14

looks good. Thanks Topgunner.

Rainbow should have gone, woulda been amazing

That youngs hurricane isnt it. I rode it at the country music festival. Youngs did the carnival. Its a better ride on youngs hurricane than march's. Those photos of the sky view wheel remind me of something of transformers.

Great pics TG!! Sat here for ages looking for whats stashed in and around the trailers.. hehe..

I am loving the set up photos too, well done TG.

Loving your work as usual Topgunner.

I wonder whether XXXL will be going? I suspect it will be there.

I'll be at the Show on Saturday morning and can't wait!

Excellent photos as always TG,look forward to more photos to come.

Thanks guys, no Ben no Goldenway gear there this year. They're running a weekend carnival/festival up at Newcastle where Power Surge will be aswell.

Anyway more gear has shown up as I got down to the showgrounds today, was suprised to see Crazy Coaster, Pirate's Revenge and Sky View nearly all complete. Well done to Joyland's tearing down the flume in 2 days then putting it all up again in two, quickest they've ever done. Is great to see both the Flume and Coaster set-up next to each other, flume makes the Coaster look a tad smaller. Will be an interesting weekend. More of Young's gear has shown up, suprised to see no Rok N Roll or their Dodgem Track yet. And also O'Neill's Ranger hasn't shown up which is very odd as it has been at the show for many years and is usually there by now. Shame to see it not there. WIll be good for the Top Gun anyway when they show up. All of Chant's gear is up except for their Wheel, also saw Hard Rock in the camping area, shame because I don't think that'll be set-up either.

Alpine Express:



Cha Cha:



Crazy Cars:



Crazy Coaster:



Energy Storm:



Freestyle:



Haunted Hotel:





Hurricane:



Magic Circus:



Music Trip:



No Limit:



Pirate's Revenge:







Rock N Roll:





Sky Flyer:





Sky View Wheel:





Space Roller:





Twister:



Wave Swinger:



Ride lineup at the moment:

Alpine Express
Haunted Hotel
Space Roller
Twister
Music Trip
Hurricane
Crazy Cars
Rock N Roll
Freestyle
x2 Dodgem Tracks (Townsend and I think Smalls)
Ferris Wheel
Sky View Wheel
Sky Flyer
No Limit
Magic Circus
Pirate's Revenge
Crazy Coaster
Wave Swinger
Energy Storm
Quads
Kids Rides
Canteens
Sideshows

Hopefully more gear will show up, Top Gun should arrive in next few days and I'd say the Zipper will show up late aswell. I'm going away for the next few days so no more updates from me, I'll be back in time for the show on Friday, where I'll be working on Pirate's Revenge for the weekend. Looking forward to seeing some aaf members.

Cheers
Top Gunner14

Have a good holiday TG, you deserve it!

Yeah strange Ranger isn't up yet. I do hope it will go to Hawkesbury as it is sort of a tradition to have it there. You know the old Huss Ranger from World Expo, now at Luna Park did Hawkesbury before it did World Expo? Strange but definitely true! It was only a fortnight or so between 88 Hawkesbury Show and the opening of Expo, not sure whether Hawkesbury was the first event for that particular ride or not, it wasn't at RES that year but did appear in 89.

Great photos again Top Gunner. Whats the event at newcastle? Like the pics of haunted hotel i've always wanted to see how it went up. Good to see hardrock there but sad to see no action. Did sea circus turn up?

I believe that Ranger was having some problems at RES.

princess wrote:I believe that Ranger was having some problems at RES.

A double disappointment for O'Neill's if that's the case with Fear going down and now this! Ranger has always been so reliable for them in the past. It was operating okay both times I was at the Show but had major breaks during ride cycles during my second visit; perhaps something was wrong then.

is Ranger the next O'Neills piece to go?

I certainly hope not Huss. I guess it's possible O'Neill's would sell it or not use it any more but I doubt that. Of all the Kamikaze type rides we have in Australia, I think that old Fabri unit is my favourite!

There is a festival in Newcastle this weekend, which I believe has some rides there that maybe could have been at Hawkesbury.

Yes I am very interested in this Newcastle event!

Back in the early to mid 90's the Guild ran an event called the "Big Spinout" in the park next to Energy Australia Stadium and the ride line-up was pretty impressive with Ranger, Roundup, Zipper, Force Ten, Hurricane and a heap more going. It was held around this time of year so I wonder whether this is it?