melbourne cup

aussies love an excuse to party. that's a fact. so, it's not surprising that the melbourne cup is a big ol' event. melbourne cup is a horse race. well, not just a horse race, the horse race in australia. it is the equivalent of the kentucky derby (i would assume), only it comes with fancy dresses, copious amounts of alcohol and fascinators. what's a fascinator? well, it's the flower/feather/dead bird thing that girls "fasten" to their heads. like a mini-hat. like the picture, for example.

wikipedia just informed me that the race, which has been running since 1861, is all of 3200 meters (which would take maybe 3 mins) and is considered to be "the race that stops the nation". it is officially a public holiday in victoria and the ACT. yes. a public holiday based on a horse race. you've got to love australia!

 the winner receives a trophy, made of gold, valued at over 100 000$. and prize money, which currently sits at 3.3 million dollars! over 130 000 people attend the race at the flemington racetrack. and another couple million attend it at events held throughout the country. why here in perth, you can even go to the local race track, get dolled up, don a fascinator, drink some champers and watch the race... on big screen. all for the low, low price of 120$ per person! 

it is also of note that approximately 80% of the adult population of australia takes part in the melbourne cup day, and most of those people do so by gambling on the event. naturally. and, i've discovered, it is the single, biggest betting event in New Zealand. who knew!?

i find it a bit strange that the entire country takes part in this race as intensely as they do. people talk about it for weeks leading up to it. dresses fly off the shelves, even as far as perth. fascinators and hats are hard to find in days leading up to it. businesses shut down for the afternoon. people take the day off of work (and the next morning too...). i don't know many other sporting events that can cause such an ordeal. i can't even imagine people going to WA stadium to watch the AFL grand final on the big screen (and expensive beer).

that being said, i did watch the race today. i'd just finished work and someone had smuggled a tv into the clinic. a few people gathered around, so i thought i'd see what the fuss was all about. it took approximately 3 minutes and required a photo finish. it was literally won by a nose (maybe, a quarter of one). my clients were excited. people cheered. i looked on in amazement that so many people could get excited about horse races.

then i took off my fascinator and went home.

xo

halloween

there are a few occasions a year that i become aware that canada and australia are actually a bit different. one such occasion was on friday, october 31st: halloween. as someone who doesn't overly enjoy halloween (anymore) it's not something that i get too concerned with. but i do find it interesting.

the month of october has little, if any, exciting days in it here. no thanksgiving. no halloween. the stores are not bombarding you with bats, spider webs, witches and bright orange pumpkins. the shops aren't stocked with bit-sized candies *sigh* and costumes are hard to come by. the kids don't seem to be all that excited about it and the parents even less so. when i asked my clients if they had plans "on friday night" they looked at me with querying eyes "uhm, no. should we?".

i was then told that in fact, halloween is new here. it has only "busted onto the scene" within the last 10 years or so (with any vigor, that is). small pockets of communities have kids trick or  treating. some neighbourhoods sent out fliers to houses to let them know that kids would be coming around, knocking on their doors. if they wanted to be part of it, they were to put a black balloon on their door. i laughed and said "that's what the pumpkins are for". they were intrigued and wanted to know more about the "history" of the day. again i laughed and said "well, it does have some history, but heck if anyone really knows about it now"

the whole halloween feel just doesn't seems wrong here: it's in spring, nothing is dying (or going into hibernation); it's light until 8pm (thanks to daylight savings...a whole 'nother post); spiders can actually kill you; bats aren't marsupials; hay doesn't get harvested until march; pumpkins don't exist.

nonetheless, i figure that halloween will become a full-fledged event here in another 5-10 years. complete with the tacky decorations, the witches, the bats, the spiders, the pumpkins, the hay and all the dead leaves. symbols of another north american tradition that doesn't make sense in australia.

xo