It Really Was Spectacular
These are my thoughts regarding the Australian Outback Spectacular.

• The preshow part wasn't my favorite, because I had a splitting headache at the time. The area was like the inside of a barn, with real horses in the stables, so the horse smell didn't really make me feel like it was time to eat.
• There was a horse named Mystery... which is what we call the palomino that lives next door. (reference)
• As for the show itself, it really was a fun time. This article has a great summary of the show. Great horsemanship. Fun contests. Lots of cheering. (The wine probably helped.) There was a cute little sheepdog mustering a herd of sheep. There were even camel races.
• We learned that Australia has more wild camels than anywhere else in the world, and we even export them to Arabia.
• We agreed that the Pirates' set was more impressive, but the Outback seating was a bit nicer.
• Before we went inside, we had a bet to see who could guess how many times the Man from Snowy River themesong would be played. Hans won with 3.
• Did I mention that we all got a free stockman's hat? We were on the yellow side.

Overall, I'd highly recommend going at least once. It's kind of spendy, but when you consider how many people and animals (horses, longhorns, sheep, cows, dogs, camels) are involved, it doesn't seem so bad.

English Consolidation Society
My brother-in-law and I always need something to fight about, so we're now doing what we can to combine Australian and American English.

These are the terms (in bold) that have won so far:
Q-tips vs. Cotton buds
Kleenex vs. Tissues
Cellphone vs. Mobile

Today we are battling fruits:
Cantaloupe vs. Rockmelon
Papaya vs. Paw Paw

UPDATE: I believe I have just received an email of concession on the rockmelon issue, as Victoria even calls them cantaloupes. If the whole of Australia doesn't bother using the term, then I don't think he has a leg to stand on.