Goats and parrots - Coombs, August 24, 2011

What fantastic marketing. This is a better idea than the invention of the ploughman's lunch by the British Milk Marketing Board in the 1960's.  Take a few goats - fairly innocuous so far.  Take a roof - boring is the word that springs to mind, although make the roof grass and it becomes a little more interesting. However put a few goats on the roof and you have an explosion of excitement.  Good on Coombs for juxtaposing two simple components to create a fusion of pure marketing power.  Enter our competition to put two simple items like this together to produce a maelstrom of interest around our upcoming showcase of the arts!

We called into Chemainus for a pit stop en route to Coombs.  The market was in operation, but with a trip arranged for Chemainus for next week (August 31, 2011 - some tickets still available), and with a fair way still to go to Coombs, we restricted our stop to 10 minutes.

Coombs is great!

the rustic shops with great import bargains, produce, statuary etc., etc.

 some great imported hand carving .. this guy was huge

 novelty buildings...

good food available ...

and - of course goats on a roof - that's right - goats on a roof!! We could have browsed longer at Coombs, but we'll visit again soon.  At 1:30 it was off to the world parrot refuge to meet some delightful avian friends. According to the guides, trading in wild parrots and other exotic birds is second in profitability only to the international illegal drugs trade.  The greed around this business inevitable leaves casualties such as these two beauties.

The refuge is a great place to see parrots up close and handle them.  It's very noisy, but the birds seem to be well looked after, and their food and accommodation looked excellent.  On reflection, having a conversation about Hitchcock's movie The Birds on the journey up to Coombs wasn't the soundest idea, but some of these parrots were just so friendly!!

Back on the bus, we had birthday wishes for Noreen and very special fiftieth wedding anniversary greetings for our driver, John.  Many congratulations and best wishes to you both.

A quick pit stop at Russels completed our Coombs visit.

It was an eye-opening trip.  We'll definitely be going back to Coombs soon, and remember to pick up your ticket for next week's Chemainus visit.

Don't forget to enter our great juxtaposition contest - just reply with your idea- the winner will win a great prize! (Well - a prize at any rate)