Bendigo Swap

I've been getting myself ready for days. The annual pilgrimage to the Bendigo Swap Meet this weekend. The biggest swap meet in Australia. Thousands of stalls in the Bendigo Show Grounds. This is the sixth year I have had a stall there for my business (not quilt related). I hook up my little caravan and camp on-site along with most of the other stall holders. They're queueing up at the gates when they open at 6am Saturday morning and if doesn't ease up till nearly 7 at night. Then Sunday morning it starts all over again. It's often hot and dry and dusty and by the time I drive the 2 1/2 hours home Sunday night I'm exhausted and I hardly have any voice left. It's hard work and I'm there on my own but it brings in a lot of business over the following year. Swap Meets are like huge 'trash & treasure' markets/garage sales where individuals or businesses can have a stall selling whatever they like. It's usually fairly blokey stuff, car parts, tools and assorted junk. It used to take me about 8 hours to walk around and see everything but since I've had the stall I don't get to do that anymore.