SUNSITE

It has been a while since last wrote a entry here and the reason for it is simply that I have been too busy. My entry backlog goes back as far as Melbourne Cup day and there is plenty since then to tell of. Lets start with Cup day. Melbourne Cup is called “the race that stops a nation” and I can attest that it is true. Australians take a very casual approach to public holiday timing. Most of the Australian public holidays aren’t that ‘Holy’, they are more days of convenience and the dates get moved around to suit the mood. They move the Queens birthday to a more convenient time and most other public holidays are put on a Monday or Friday to provide a long weekend to go away. Melbourne Cup day is a public holiday in the state of Victoria. A day of Horse Racing is a Public Holiday! How Australian is that! Cup day is even not on a Monday or Friday, but Tuesday. Melbourne goes crazy for a whole week while the races are on. It all starts with Darby Day and reaches a highpoint on Cup Day. People dress up in their finest garb. Glamorous long dresses for the ladies, hats, high heals and fine accessories. Suits, tuxes and often vintage clothing for the men. They then stock up on champagne and other intoxicating beverages and head off to the race course. During this week the trains will be full to capacity with finely dressed folks who later in the day will often be very drunk. It certainly is an interesting time to be in the city. I’d never seen a horse race before Cup Day. Our local pub ‘The King of Tonga’ put on a Cup Day event witch we attended. Steve had arranged for a large screen, food and some fun. I was quite surprised to find that I really enjoyed the TV broadcast from the race. It was very exciting. The race only takes about 3 minutes, after which the winner will have acquired $5 million and the rest of Australia get really drunk. We had a wonderful time and I look forward to the next Cup day. One of the greatest things about Melbourne is that when big sporting events are on the whole city participates!