Royal Randwick

To start this post, I have two little notes. The first is Australians' abbreviation for mathematics. Americans might say, "Geez, I love math so much!" (because, of course, we do). However, an Australian would never say this. They instead would say, "Geez, I love maths so much!" ... are you kidding me? Maths? Do they also have pet deers and sheeps at home, what is this?

The other small point is that birds fly in the air, and that's plain and simple. Birds fly in the air in the U.S. too, no big. But once it hits about 7pm, those birds in the air turn to bats. Yes, after 7pm, you will no longer see any birds flying around above your head, but you will however see very large bats flying about even more frequently than the birds that flew in the daylight hours. It's crazy! These bats climb through trees like monkeys, then take off through the streets of Sydney, it seems so exotic.

This morning immediately after breakfast, we walked over to Coogee beach to enjoy a Saturday morning on the sand. It was a great day for it! Warm and sunny, the beach wasn't very crowded, the ocean breeze felt fantastic - all you could want from a beach day. It's so awesome that I go to school somewhere where I can walk to the beach in less than 30 minutes. That's amazing.

We didn't stay for too long this morning, though, because we wanted to get back to Fig Tree and tidy up for the main event of the day, the Royal Randwick Racecourse. Today they were celebrating St. Patrick's Day, and Royal Randwick was one of six racecourses around the state that was holding races simultaneously (you could bet on any race from any of the six from any location). Nick had done some research before we left, and we fortunately learned of the dress code - nice slacks, a collared shirt, no open-toed shoes. Not thinking much of the idea of horse races, we grabbed a quick lunch at the dining hall and walked over to the racecourse.

Boy had we underestimated it! This wasn't just an event, it was an all-out culture! Women wore dresses more gaudy than prom night, men wore extravagent suits as wild as pink and orange, and everyone seemed to have some kind of headdress from feathers to netting to a simple beret. Men helped women step off buses, older race-goers walked in with their pen-marked newspapers in hand, and everyone seemed like they were having a great time. The flowers and architecture and building itself was all done up in Disney-like style, so walking the grounds had a romantic feel to it.

We bought some general admission tickets, and were stopped at the gate to show our IDs. We think it's perhaps that you have to be 18 to attend these races, but we don't know for sure. After walking around a bit inside, we saw many well-dressed people lining up for an elevator. We couldn't find the seats to watch the races, and figured that this must be what everyone is waiting for. Before long, we were shuffled into the elevator with 23 other people (I only know because the woman who was operating the lift said capacity was 26 total). We were headed to the third floor when she asked to see everyone's passes. What passes? We hushed up real quick, and were lucky to be away from the woman checking passes. We managed to slip out on floor three!

We immediately stuffed our tickets into our pockets lest someone find out we were peasants, and found the outdoor seating area - we were two levels above the general admissions seating! It was awesome, such luck.

Then, a nice couple of elderly ladies sat down next to us. After striking up some conversation, they taught us so much about the races - some general background, some logistics and how it works, and most importantly how to bet. "You're much more invested if you've got something in it!" she told us. When we learned we were allowed to bet as little as $0.50, we were all for it.

Throughout the day, I laid bets on 5 different horses. The first was a straight bet - I pay $1 saying, if this horse is in first, I take the dividends. But the next four were "each way," meaning, if this horse places in the top three, I take a smaller version of the dividends. Unfortunately, none of it paid out; but it was still a great time. As we were each invested once we'd started betting, but none of us seriously invested, it was really a lot of fun to watch the horses come around the bend!

Between races 7 and 8, a storm rolled in. We were planning on leaving before race 8, but we were really enjoying the opportunity to be there and be a part of the races, so we stuck it out and placed our bets for race 8. And good thing we did, as Nick made out with $7!

So after 4 1/2 hours at the racecourse, we called it a day. It was a local day, but an entirely full day, and one full of Australian culture.

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