Magical Melbourne Cup

Last weekend, I had the privilege of getting sent south to Melbourne for a work. Friday nite I got my fill of Halloween at Canadian's Halloween party... Which was great because I thought for a second I was going to miss it. Halloween - Not such a big deal in Oz.

It also just so happened to be coming up on Melbourne Cup, which is one of the biggest holidays in Victoria - Basically one horse race stops the nation. ITs actually quite cool, people get all dolled up - in old englishy kindy style and then go to the race track and eat, drink and make massive bets on the races. I was downtown Saturday afternoon in Melbourne and streaming out of the train station were hundreds of guys in nice suits and fedora-ish hats and all kinds of women super dolled up in classy dresses and massive hats and/or feather-like contraptions in their hair. Very interesting phenomenon.

And all that was just the precursor to the Melbourne Cup - -Called Darby Day. Actual Melbourne Cup was Tuesday afternoon and we got treated to lunch and drinks for the afternoon in North Sydney - Wicked. We get the afternoon off work to watch 1.5 minute horse race. I bet about 30 bucks.. didnt win anything. It was an exciting minute tho.

In other news, the kiting is getting amazing here! It is such a cool culture! Tons of people hang out at this great kiting spot near the airport called "Dolls Pt." Most days the wind comes up at about 3pm and blows at about 17-22 knots until the sun goes down. And if the wind isnt blowing, the crew just hangs out on the beach socializing having a good time, waiting for the wind to come back. Everytime I go out someone teaches me something else new about kiting - normally because they see me struggling or doing something dumb... but ya gotta learn sometime right? I am seriously excited about kiting every Saturday-Sunday that I am here! The only problem is that I would also like to take weekened trips outside of the city - but I am always looking at the wind forecast and it keeps me in the city... Ah well. Can't really complain. Whenever I am out on the water.. I seriously just start to laugh. Kiting is one of the coolest feelings ever. It really is beyond description. Wakeboarding without a boat.. and you can cruise right into the beach, step off your board, fold your kite up and put it in the back of your car. (i put a little rip in my kite the other day--- this can be an expensive sport--but nowhere near wakeboarding in the long run).

Today I played my first game of Touch Footy with some colleagues in a work league. Touch Footy refers to Rugby League (which is basically Australian Rugby - you get limited tackles and positioning is a little different). Super fun, and hopefully will play some more. Its good to get in there with everyone and do some running around!

In general, I am really enjoying Sydney! Time is flying by!It is sort of a strange feeling sometimes being here though, as it really isn't very different from Canada - so I don't feel too culture shocked, but that being said, I can't shake the fact that I am on the other side of the world and there are all these tiny differences that sorta throw me for a loop sometimes.