It’s not an unusual site at the Ballarat Swap Meet, where thousands of people converge on the Ballarat Airport grounds to hunt for vintage treasures. 

Visitors took to creative modes of transport, including electric scooters and bicycles, to make their way around 2,700 stalls on Friday and Saturday. 

Charlie Horn and Ryan Bauer purchased two old bicycles at the meet in an effort to see as many stalls as possible on their two day trip to Ballarat from the Mornington Peninsula. 

They left Ballarat with a loaded ute, and spent part of Saturday afternoon tying down a motorcycle, engine, bicycles and car parts for their trip home. 

“We build hot rods for a job so we will cut stuff up and customise it,” Mr Horn said. 

“This motorcycle is a real treasure. It has a cut look, is slung low. It would be from the late 60s or early 70s,” Mr Bauer said. 

Mr Horn said the swap meet was so big, the pair didn’t manage to see all of it in two days. 

“But we got into a lot of conversations with old people and shared knowledge and advice,” he said. 

This weekend’s event was touted the biggest swap meet in the southern hemisphere.

Ballarat Swap Meet chairman Lindsay Florence said it covered around 40 hectares, and had an average crowd of 5,000 people per hour through the gates. 

A walk through the many isles of the meet presented unusual items at each turn. 

One man was selling old traffic lights which he had purchased after they had been taken down after road accidents.

Darren from Melbourne had a stall of old signs he had collected over 15 years. 

“They are very hard to get now. They are originals and once you have sold them some of them you will never get again,” he said. 

“Some of these signs are close to 100 years old. They look great. I have them all around my house.” 

Mark Lochkie travelled from Warragul with his 1924 Austral oil engine that was originally made in Ballarat. He said it was worth around $11,000. 

“There are not many of them around that are completely untouched. I have got it going,” he said. 

Visitors from all over the country brought their trucks, trailors, caravans and utes to bring their goods to the meet and take home their treasures.

Matthew and Bill Jansen travelled from Canberra for the weekend and bought a 1944 Tudor from Romsey on the way. 

Quickly dropping temperatures, grey cloud and high wind had stallholders packing up earlier than initially expected on Saturday afternoon. Long lines of cars were banked up waiting to exit the grounds by 1pm. 

Ballarat Swap Meet chairman Lindsay Florence said the site holders were encouraged to stay on the site until 4pm, but crowds and siteholders making a move to exit early caused traffic jams for hours. 

“Externally, we had a traffic management company working at all the key points around the venue. They are clearing the external traffic. Siteholders took it upon themselves to undo security fencing and they created gates that shouldn’t have been gates,” he said. 

“But the event itself has been very positive. We have had good attendance and most of the siteholders have done well in terms of their trade.” 

Siteholders can also pack up their stalls and exit the site on Sunday.