Melbourne Cup didn't fail to impress

Tuesday, November 4th

The wake up call at 6:40am was not very welcoming, but I was excited to hear my good friend Connie will be joining me in Cairns. Yeah! Another friend joining my excursion. We all woke up to a get ready for the big day. We were all a bit nervous about the weather because it was suppose to rain and be only 19c (aka very cold). Being in our dresses and sandals didn't sound so much fun. We were all pretty cold dolling up, but we did what we had to do. We put on our dresses, our faces, and big fascinators. Of course to ease us into the cold we did some cheers with mimosas and vegemite on toast. We all wore cardigans and leggings (except mel) under our dresses. Bernice and I were so fashionable, we decided not to pull them up until we got to the race track. Yes, we were that cold.

Natasha drove us to the reservoir train station where we picked up the train to the race. Everyone was all dressed up. It's truly the race that stops the nation. All of Victoria had the day off. Girls were all wearing pretty dresses and huge hair pieces, lots of 1930's looks, and boys were all in suits and ties. Bernice, Steph and I were probably the most dressed down of the crowd and wearing fancy flat sandals. It was funny because I heard two girls walking behind us commented "see some girls do wear flats." Little did she know, it just happened she found three shabby girls right next to each other. Most of the girls were wearing heels.

We were all a bit nervous about general admissions for the Melbourne Cup. It's the cheapest ticket (AUD60), but right by the track. Natasha's friends told her that's where all the feral people hang out and it would be over crowded. It turned out that they were wrong. People were all dressed up, with a few people in costumes like doctors and prisoners. There were lots of huge fancy hats. Pretty amusing looking at the fashions. Natasha is correct, the Melbourne Cup is all about the fashion. What's better is that the weather was beautiful and we got to sit right next to the track. It was a lot of fun. We all got some color and drank the screwdrivers we snuck in. We're not allowed to bring alcohol to the track, but we premixed it in the oj. How clever! We also ate hoggies and tons of snacks. It was delicious, especially the bbq shapes. Fiona, Natasha's teacher friend came by to visit us. Natasha greeted her, "hey trashbag" because she was really drunk. We like the new slang! Fiona was a bit upset that she paid AUD150 for her car park seat (AUD75) and food/drinks (AUD75)...and only got to drink beer. She was lovely though and lots of fun.

No one won any real money. Steph and Natasha broke even, but I lost AUD15...not too bad for hours of entertainment. Alan, for the spirit of the race too lost $30. At roughly 4:30pm, we headed home really tired. Some started to get headaches, and we all fell asleep on the way back. Poor Natasha had to stay up so we didn't miss our stop.

We went back to Lygon street for dinner at La Spagetta, Natasha's favorite italian place. It was very delicious. So delicious we didn't do the classic sharing, we each ordered our own meal. It was yumm.

It was Snez's birthday, Natasha's childhood friend that went on the contiki tour too. We went to meet up with her to catch up. Her husband and boy were very nice. I can't believe she has a precious 4 year old son We made arrangements to see her on Thursday for our aussie bbq and also for our going out night on Friday. Afterwards we refused Fiona's party invitation and went back to Natasha's place to watch some tv and go to bed early. We were heading to the great ocean road the next day and needed to get up at 6am. It will be a long long day too.