The Abbey Medieval Festival

J and I bundled ourself off to the Abbey Medieval Festival recently. It's the largest medieval festival in Australia and it was surprisingly busy. It took us 45 minutes to get through the gates - loooong line. Once in J decided to immediately line up again, this time for coffee! I wandered over to watch the fencing (as in sword fighting). I was still happily perched on my bale of hay watching the fencing some 30 odd minutes later when J arrived with the coffee. Yes, the coffee line was HUGE also as were the food lines later in the day.
The father of one of the fencers kindly gave me some information on the sport that clarified a bit of what I was seeing. Fencing is a martial art so each of the fencers was graded. In the above photo you see a blue sash hanging down with 3 white stripes on it, this indicates what grade the fencer is. White I think was the first grade and these individuals were only allowed to do a block and an attack before stepping back so were a bit disjointed to watch. The fellow above and a gentleman wearing a silver sash (for swordsman, highest grade) just went at it with each other and were brilliant to watch. The all remained in role throughout which was a bit of fun too.
During our wanderings we came to a Viking settlement and found this dear sweet little one drinking milk from a horn. Her grandmother had just finished making butter in a large wooden bowl. She had tied a bunch of dried reeds together to use as a whisk. I forgot to ask how long it took! You can see her loom leaning on the tree behind her. All the clothes seemed handmade and from the coarser handmade fabrics you would expect.
We crossed paths with these lovely ladies over near the jousting - yes people, there was real jousting, horses, armour the lot. I just thought they were so gorgeous I had to ask if I could take their pictures.
I have never seen so much gorgeously healthy long flowing hair and that wasn't just the women, it seemed to be the favoured style for men too.
I didn't get to see the cooking displays that I was interested in as we were still trying to get through the front gates at the time. Will have to go back next year for another attempt and this time I'll buy my ticket online ahead of schedule!