Australia

I'm back in Australia for a new year! But, I sort of need to finish travel blogging last year. Yes. So, it is time for the races, Emirates Stakes Day, which I went to on November 10th of last year. Four months ago. Yes, I am a little behind...well, that's okay.

Well, the morning of the race, before we left, I had to decide how to adorn my head! The night before, Pippi and I had gone to Myers to check out head pieces. The head piece is a very important part of the whole outfit, you know. There were three I was looking at, but Pippi was like, "We'll just buy them all so you can try them on with your dress, and I'll return the other two later." So that is what I did.

Option 1: A head band with a small flower. Minimal flair.

Option 2: A headband with a poofy feather thing. Medium flair.

Option 3: A headband with lots of feathery things. More flair. So this is the one I went for.

So, Pippi and I got in the car and went to the races. You know, I don't really remember that many details, as this was four months ago. It's a good thing I have the pictures. Outside the front were some weird guys on stilts. I'd actually seem them in the Melbourne Cup Parade, which I had gone to see in the city earlier that week.

The stilt guys...I don't really remember, basically they thought a pretty girl like me needed some accompaniment (is that the right word? No?) for the day and they wanted to go in with me. It was weird.

But then I found Phar Lap, and he was cool! Here we are together:

So then Pippi and I went up to the Members Section. I wasn't a Member, but Pippi was able to secure a seat for me in the section anyway, though I had to sit at a table with strangers. But they were very nice strangers. They served us fancy food and white wine, which was gross, but I drank it anyway.

I bet on the first few races. If I liked the horse's name, or if the odds were really low that they'd win. Like 20 to 1 odds. I'd only ever bet fifty cents, a dollar, but I figured that if they did win, I would get a lot of money! But these horses kept losing. I guess that should not have surprised me. So I stopped betting. And then the very next race, you know who won? A horse with 100 to 1 odds. Yeah. I was mad. I guess that's what you get when you gamble.

Well, here are some pictures of races in action!

Well, first, here's the racetrack, or part of it.

A pretty sign.

More of an overview of the track and the city in the background.

Here's a horse I bet on. They prance around in a circle before they race, which is what they're doing here. #9 in the centre. I think his name was Dance Dance Dance or something like that. He lost.

Here am I. Waiting for the race to start.

Here's my horse losing. Or, rather, another horse winning.

Then Pippi and I went to visit Kevin. He was working, collecting bets and stuff. Here we are!

Then it was time for the main race of the day! The Stakes Race! I think. Yeah! Here is the back of some girls heads.

The race in progress.

Then, I decided to leave Pippi and the Members section behind for a second, and journey down to the ground to mingle amongst the riffraff. Here they are.

The riffraff were actually really cool, because they had their own singing and dancing penguin!

Finally it was time for the last race of the day. I decided I would give the betting thing one last shot. I decided to bet on Jukebox Johnny, because that was a good name! So I put some money on number 10. But when I got back to my table I realised Jukebox Johnny was #9, and I'd actually bet on some random horse. But I was like, "Whatever, they're all going to lose anyway." So I didn't care. But then, the horse I'd accidentally bet on won!! And I won $17! It was so exciting!!! I made back all the money I'd bet, plus $7 more. So, I decided gambling was fun after all.

After I went to collect my money, I ran into more creepy guys. They'd been drinking, I think. They said, "Hey, can we have our picture taken with you?" And I was like, "Um..." And Pippi was like, "Yeah! It'll make their day! Come on Kate, I'll take the picture!" So Pippi took their cell phone and they stood on either side of me and we had our picture taken. It was really strange.

But, on the plus side, they then took Pippi and I's photo. So here we are. I am clutching my winnings in my hand! Because I was very excited about it still.

And...that was the races. In as much detail as I remember, four months on. The end!

This will be a short entry with some random photos.

First, the hoola-hooping woman. She stood at the corner of Bourke and Swanston doing this all day, every day, for about a week or two. It was strange.

Also at that corner are three dashing businessmen. I'd been wanting to introduce myself all year long. In November, I finally worked up the courage to say hello.

Then, 6 November, Melbourne Cup Day, was also Zombie Day. When all the zombies meet in Carlton Gardens at high noon. Since I wasn't going to Melbourne Cup Day, I decided to check them out, though I stayed at a safe distance.

Later on, I was riding the tram home, looking out the window. Suddenly, out of nowhere, zombies were running at us, banging on the windows and saying something about brains. It was entertaining. So much so, that I got a t-shirt.

Photo credit for that last one goes to Chad. He's four.

Monday afternoon we were set to fly back to Melbourne, but before we left, we stopped at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary to play with Aussie animals!

First I visited some koalas.

Then some cool bird that likes to stand on one foot.

Next, I made friends with the local statues.

Then I went to play with kangaroos, wallabies, and emus.

I can't really tell the difference between smaller/baby kangaroos and wallabies. But maybe this is a wallaby, only because it's pregnant! Look at the pouch! It's harder to tell in this pic, but there were babies squirming in there. It was too cool.

I think a wallaby, looking up to say hello

Petting a wallaby

Hanging with the emus

They better be careful that kangaroo doesn't steal their baby

Next we went to visit the crocs. Here are some freshwater ones hiding beneath the muddy waters.

Then we went to visit the salt water ones - the really scary one. I was making friends with a salt water croc up above, by the way. But yeah. I don't think this picture does him justice. He was HUGE.

Here's a cute lizard or reptile of some sort who was scurrying around.

Next I found even more koalas! Here's one sleeping in a tree....with a baby!!

And here's another one, who woke up just for me. He was the only one.

Then I had a bit of a run in with an Aussie python, but don't worry, I was okay.

Last were the dingoes...but they were hiding and I couldn't get a very good picture. So I also took a picture of a nearby sign, because I found it quite interesting.

Finally, we shall end Queensland with a picture of a jacaranda tree. They were all over Queensland and I loved there. They dropped a carpet of purple petals everywhere. It was beautiful.

Sunday morning started with a trip to the Q1, the tallest all-residential tower in the world. The top floor is the observation deck: floor 77. And the elevator goes from the ground floor to 77 in just 43 seconds. That was a fun ride

Once up top I took a ton of pictures. The view was spectacular! Have a looksy for yourself.

Then there were a serious of spots that showed how many kms in that direction it was to various world locations:

Finally, there was a bug outside the window. I tried to make Bugzilla attack the city! It sort of worked.

Next we hit the main Surfer's Paradise Blvd. Here are some self-explanatory pictures.

After Surfer's, Pippi and I went shopping at Pacific Fair, which is one of her top favorite shopping centres. I thought the place we had lunch was cool, so pictures were taken. Plus, they had a really small merry-go-round.

And that was the end of that day! I hope you enjoyed that super long entry. Only one QLD entry remains! Stay tuned.

The next morning, we went to a local Gold Coast Beach: Broadbeach! Aptly named. Look at this beach. Quite broad.

I played in the surf. Here are some pictures where you can see my head and, occasionally, even more:

When I got out to have a rest, I noticed the kids next to me where building sandcastles, so I decided to get in on the action.

Yes, I know, you're probably wondering what on earth that's supposed to be. Well, I'll have you know, it's a sand pyramid. With my initials. But seriously I don't know why I even tried. Look what the kids next to me had.


After that we left the beach and went to the supermarket. The date was...October 29th. I noticed their Halloween Pumpkin section and had to laugh (and photograph).

And that's all I have photos of from Saturday, so I'm going to end it here, even though it's a short entry. Sunday's entry should be long, so.