GOLDIESTUD

The 20^th of September came round more quickly than I had wished, as it was the fear of flying for over 19 hours to Perth that had me worried the weeks prior to our departure. I had stayed the night before with friends in Harrow and, after a good night’s rest we all met up at Heathrow Airport. It was not until then that I finally realised that this was ‘it’, we really were off to Australia, to judge two two-day shows, one in Perth, the other one in Sydney. After what seemed like eternity before the 747-500 finally took off we all settled down in our seats, eating, drinking, watching films and listening to music. Australia’s favourite airline looked after us well, and soon we landed in Perth.

 

Jenny’s home was our home for the next few days, and the whole family made us so welcome that it felt like we had always been there. The first two days were the ‘worst’, as we had no contact with any rabbits, which made me realise just how much I would miss rabbits in my life if there weren’t any. Our first day took us to Kings Park from where one had some fantastic views of Perth, and to Scarborough beach. We really should have stayed in England, as we passed signs for Cambridge, Caversham and Guildford!! We also fitted in some great wine tasting in Sun Valley, to sample the local tipple. Later on I went for my first run in Australia, what an experience that was, with all the different sounds and sights around me. In the evening we all went out for a Chinese meal with the Western Australia Rabbit Council Inc. and a good time was had by all. The following day one of the fanciers, Bob, took us out in his car and showed us around areas like Whiteman’s Park and the shire of Chittering where I would have liked to settle down. We also visited the fist rabbitry of a fancier who was not showing at the show we were about to judge soon. The most interesting rabbit I saw there was a “Himalayan lop”, and the best for me was a Himalayan rex. In the evening we had a lovely home-cooked meal at Jenny’s, and the Breed Standard book was scrutinised once more.

Next day was dawning early for me, as I could hardly sleep with all the excitement of the first show, or shall we call it nerves?? We waited outside the show hall until we were ‘allowed’ in and, once inside, the nerves just disappeared. The atmosphere was like any other show in the U.K. and soon we found ourselves behind our judging tables, with plenty of helpful stewards around. I was absolutely amazed about the good quality of stock they had, considering the tight gene pool fanciers have to work with, and the elements they are facing like the summer heat and myxomatosis, which is rife in Australia. Nobody is allowed to vaccinate, or have their rabbits vaccinated against it, much to the frustration of the fanciers and vets alike.

 

Some of the fur breeds could have easily been placed in our shows, like the Satins, one of which, an Ivory Satin, went on to win best fur. The only slight letdown was that their guard hairs were slightly shorter than of those in the U.K. Otherwise they really looked lovely with regard to type, coat texture and sheen.

 

The Silver Foxes were not far behind, one of which missed out narrowly on winning. Some of them showed incredibly good ticking, right up on the sides with a superb coat density to match.

 

Even a Deilenaar was there, and that too did its breed proud, though a little more work still needs to be done there. However, considering the small gene pool the Australian fanciers have to work with, and only with the BRC Breed Standards book on hand for guidance and advice they looked pretty good, I thought.

 

 

Some Californians and New Zealand Whites were also competing for the honours, as were the many Swiss Fox, the “rabbits with attitude”, as they called them in Perth. The best Swiss Fox closely resembled those I saw at the London Championship Show this year, with regard to their type, coat density and texture. When rubbed the hairs really felt like human hair.

 

In the rex it was a castor rex buck that stole the show, with a coat to die for, that was not only extremely dense, but also short. A fox rex was another, really good rex to mention, as was an opal and ‘even’ a chocolate otter!

 

Last, but definitely not least came two (!!) Astrex rabbits. I was so looking forward to seeing them, and I was not disappointed. Sadly, their coats were not tightly curled as required by the Breed Standard, but were more of a very wavy coat, even on the belly.

 

I really enjoyed discussing the rabbits during the judging, and also afterwards. The fanciers were so keen to know the good and ‘bad’ features of their rabbits, which made discussing the exhibits a real pleasure.

 

The show closed down to a good old natter and a BBQ, giving us another chance to meet the fanciers.

 

The following day was the Young Stock Show, our final judging day in Perth. We started an hour earlier but felt much more relaxed, as the fanciers were such a welcoming and well-meaning bunch of people.

 

Again, some super stock on show, which was, in my opinion, even better than the day before. This really was good news, as it proved that the guys down under knew what they were doing, in order to improve their stock. I started with the fur rabbits, and found the best rabbits among the Californians, British Giants, New Zealand Whites, Deilenaars, Argente Noir, Astrex, Swiss Fox and – a Wheaten!

 

The fur challenge was not an easy task and 11 battled it out for first place, such was the standard! In the end, a super British Giant took the honours – he was a broken chinchilla patterned British Giant, the best in type, coat and even colour/pattern. The BRC-recognised colour range in Australia applies to all breeds, i.e. certain colours are not just for certain breeds only. With such a small gene pool to contend with, this is exactly what the Australian fanciers need, in order to recreate the breeds we take for granted in the U.K. – one must always bear that in mind before criticising the Australian fanciers for that. The re-creation of breeds takes a lot of perseverance, commitment and patience. This also means that many Australian fanciers keep more than just one or two breeds but maybe seven or more. Needless to say, that some fanciers are known to have in excess of 100+ rabbits.

 

In between the classes I also judged some lovely pet rabbits. The interesting thing here was that there were two age groups for the children, i.e. 7-11 years, and 12 – 17 years. This gave also the younger pet owners a better chance to win, I felt. Another lovely idea was the ‘pairs challenge’ in the pet show, in which two very similar pets were competing together, against other pairs. For example there were two tans, two REW Netherland Dwarfs etc. Maybe some U.K. show secretaries may wish to take this into consideration for their next show? It encourages junior pet owners to have a little more competition, and it also brings in a little more revenue for the club.

 

The rex were next on the table and again I was rewarded with plenty of good ones to chose from. The mini rex though require a lot of work still – I was amazed that they even managed to create some. The best rex by far was an absolute spot-on standard cinnamon rex, perfect in type, coat, colour and banding. I wished that I could have taken that one home, plus a couple of Astrex, the Wheaten etc. etc.!!!

 

The GC Challenge was sorted out very amicably with Paula, and it felt rather sad that this was the end of our judging in Perth.

A lovely presentation followed, with plenty of nice rosettes being awarded. The Supreme Champion was also given some goodies from the British Rabbit Council, which we had taken to Australia.

 

The most moving moment for me was when Paula and I received a beautiful present each - a beautifully handcrafted wooden box that had a lovely plaque on its side, and which contained cloth badges and a metal club badge. We also received a signed thank-you card each.

The rest of the time was spent visiting a few rabbitries, with the hospitality mostly taking place in the rabbit sheds, which I really enjoyed. While in the sheds we also witnessed a few matings taking place, so here’s to all the future champions!!! Another unforgettable day out was spent at Freemantle, with the best fish ‘n’ chips I ever had!

 

The time soon went by and it was good-bye to Perth and hello to Sydney after a four hour flight, where we stayed in a superb apartment each, for two nights, in Darling Harbour. We crammed in as much as possible during the two days we had, like the lovely Taronga Zoo, the Sydney Tower with the Ozzie Trek Show, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. On the first night I went to the theatre with our hosts Christine and Neil, to see the “Producers” – an absolutely superb production! I also managed to fit in another run to Hyde Park and a visit to the Royal Botanic Garden. After two days we left the most beautiful skyline of Sydney behind, and were whisked off to our lodgings in Stockton Creek, right out in the sticks. We stayed in a log cabin each, in very peaceful and quiet surroundings. The next day it was off to our first show in NSW, in Wyee. Again the usual buzz when entering the show hall, however, no pens anywhere! Instead, all rabbits were kept in their own carry box, with a removable number adhered to it, just like a huge box show. No need for penning up or down, no expense or mess with shavings. Each rabbit was placed onto a yellow mat on the judges’ table, with the appropriate “pen” number next to it. This worked very well, and I soon got used to the idea of not having to worry about ear labels falling off.

 

Again, some amazing stock could be found in Sydney, with regard to the fur exhibits and the rex rabbits alike. The fur rabbits that stood out the most were the satins in ivory, black, smoke pearl, chinchilla, Himalayan and orange colour. The types were lovely, but again the coats could be a little longer. The sheen on them was superb, just like ours in the U.K. A huge quality class of the ever-popular Swiss Fox awaited me, in excess of 20. The difference here was that they were not presented in a ‘continental pose’ like in Perth but, instead, in the way we pose them in the U.K. The coats were a little longer than those of the Swiss Fox in Perth, and the types were really good. The coat texture was as good as you can find at our shows. The eventual best fur was found in this class, with a REW taking the honours here.

A big surprise was finding some very good smoke pearls, of the correct colour, type and coat. The Californians and the New Zealand Whites too looked great, with good types and lovely coats to match, and the Californians with good points.

 

In the standard rex a huge class of Ermines stood out, in excess of 50, followed by plenty of otters, orange and Himalayan rex. Again, well-covered feet on all of them, even on the older ones! All rex showed very short and dense coats, as well as great types. Best rex, and Best in Show went to one of the best orange rex I ever had the pleasure to handle, the one rabbit I really wanted to take home, the one which would have done anyone’s stud proud.

 

For the breeder of this most beautiful exhibit it was an emotional retirement from the fancy, with the orange rex and some related stock already sold to a new fancier. One can only hope that the new owner appreciates the high quality of this rabbit – what a fantastic start-up!

 

A good class of really densely coated mini rex were on show. However, very sadly many were well over the weight limit, the ‘heaviest’ being over 2.3 kilos, so a lot of work needs to be done still.

 

We were given the pleasure to present all the prizes. It was an honour and a privilege, and it was lovely to see so many happy faces during the presentation.

 

We too were presented with some lovely memorabilia. Before the show we received a lovely judges badge each, which we wore with pride, together with the one received from the Perth club. After the show we were given some lovely prints, a tea towel and a club key ring.

 

After the show we finally stayed with Christine and her family in Wallarah, and we could hardly wait to have a good look at her many rabbits. Unfortunately, there was not enough time left to look at all of them, after all there were about 200 or so!!! Again, we visited some more rabbitries, and the most interesting one to me was the one with plenty of high quality Swiss Fox. I must admit that I have taken a real shine to this beautiful breed. If only I had more time and space. Apart from the many lovely rex Christine showed to us, the ‘one for me’ was her breed in development, i.e. the Plush Lop. Unfortunately, it cannot be shown in the main shows down under, as it is not a recognised breed in the U.K. Here, type and coat are coming together nicely, as is the ear carriage.

The rest of the little time we had left was spent on the beach, watching Pelicans being fed, watching a mob of about 35 – 40 kangaroos and, of course, some more cheese and wine tasting.

 

All too soon it was the end of our journey, and time to reflect. Nobody can take away the things I have learned in Australia. I feel that I have learned a lot there, that I have come out stronger and more confident. I feel that I have further improved on my judging skills, and that I learned to openly discuss the exhibits put in front of me. Although this felt a little strange at the very beginning, however, this was one of the things I enjoyed the most at the shows: To help the fanciers understand just how far they have developed their chosen breed already. The enthusiasm of the fanciers could not have been greater! It was a delight to discuss their rabbits with them, and to visit their rabbitries. We have been made so welcome everywhere we went, that we could not have been left in better hands.

 

The two shows will never be forgotten, neither will be the whole ‘Aussie experience’ and the friends I have made. I am eternally grateful for the chance, the privilege and the honour to judge both the Perth and the Sydney shows. Big thanks go to the WARCI and the REBS, and the Rabbit Breeders Forum, without whom this trip would not have been possible. I would love to return, in order to find how much progress has been made since our last visit. I can’t wait to do it all again, here is to the next challenge down under!

 

 

11^th December 2005