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| The track at Royal Randwick |
Friday and especially Saturday were very eventful and exciting days. On Friday, I spent most of the day with Bobby helping him finish up a job he was doing in Manly. After first stopping at a place to the west of Sydney we took a really nice drive through the actual city of Sydney and then to Manly. It really is a nice area down there, even if it is a bit busy. Later on Friday, I went to spend a weekend with a teacher at the school I'll be teaching at. We had a very nice Morrocan style dinner.
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| Driving through The Spit, another awesome part of Sydney |
The real fun however came on Saturday when we went to Royal Randwick, a major horse track in Sydney. Unlike in the U.S. where the major races on ran on dirt, all the horse racing in Australia is done on turf. Saturday was also one of the major racing days in Australia, highlighted by the Australian Derby which is 1.5 mile run around the track. It was quite an experience to be there, as the the patrons were dressed in attire more suitable for a royal wedding than the horse racing I'm used to back home. There were tons of big hats, small dresses, and suits for the men. I did feel slightly under-dressed in my khakis and pink button-down, especially cause it was black and white day and almost everyone was wearing that!
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| A typical hat and attire on race day |
My betting at the race track didn't go exactly as planned, as there were 9 races during the day and I only came out victorious in 1. Thankfully, it was the last race of the day and I was able to recoup most of my winnings and leave on a good note. I am still a little bitter because in the big race of the day, the Australian Derby my horse (Polish Knight) was winning for most of the home stretch only to get nipped out by a nose at the finish line.
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| At the finish line of the Australian Derby, Ethiopia (#11) edged out my horse in the orange along the rail. |
After the horse race we took a bus back to the center of Sydney, which is only about a 5-10 minute drive from Randwick. We went to a local bar there to watch a Rubgy League game. I'm pretty good with the rules of Rugby League after seeing a few games, as well as the AFL (Aussie Rules Football) which I had seen a few times on TV back home, but I don't think I've seen a Rugby Union game yet which is a bit different. It was fun to watch the game, but unfortunately for the teacher I was with her team lost a close game. After that we went into the Chinatown district for dinner for some authentic Chinese food which was very good. Following dinner we traveled back to the suburb where her apartment his spent a little time at a local bar and then went home after another fun bet exhausting day in Sydney!
-Andrew
Aussie Words
Serviettes - Napkins
Tomato Sauce - Ketchup
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