Drinking, dancing and hats!

This is me with a bookie at the horse races in Parkes.

So, I'm back from my Parkes trip, farm country, New South Wales. It was AWESOME. I love being in the country. Reminds me of home. Maybe it's because I only visit, and don't actually live there. But I had the same feeling this weekend that I get when I'm at home in Owen Sound: relaxed, comfortable and happy. A bunch of us stayed the with the parents of friends, at Jude and Col Wilson's house, which is a huge old house that used to be a convent. Rooms upon rooms upon rooms. Jude, Col and all of their family and friends are so genuine and nice and down-to-earth. They welcomed us into their home instantly. I walked in the door Friday evening, and after introductions and small talk, Jude (the mom) dished me out a bowl of homemade ham and split pea soup. So welcoming.

Friday: drove 8 hours to Parkes, saw the FL-AT countryside (think: Manitoba), and then later in the evening, we hung out with Jude and Col, and began the theme of hte weekend: drinking, dancing & hats. We ate dinner, started drinking and playing records, which led to dancing and putting on random dress-up hats all night. (They keep a big box of fun hats.) Very fun.

Saturday: Very very sick. Threw up. Never drinking again. (Well, sort of.)

This is the day of the "races". Horse racing is very big here. Everyone gets dressed up in fancy clothes, goes to the races, some make bets, some don't, some never see a horse the whole day, and everyone parties all day & night. Except me - no partying until the puking stops.

It rains for the first time in years. Yep, years! This turns the racing grounds into a mud bog. Kristy (daughter of Col & Jude) and I buy rubber boots (aka gum boots if you're reading this from Australia, shitkickers if you're my dad). I'm wearing them with my fancy dress. Classy. But warm. Much better idea than high-heeled sandals. And I made my first bet with a bookie - first time! Sadly, I lost. Saw my first horse race. And Col won best dressed man at the races!

We watched some races, stood in our marquee (tent) and ate and drank and kept warm by the fire in a barrel outside our tent. Pics will be up soon, I promise. Saturday night we went back to Col & Judes for more food, more dancing, more hats.

Quinny & I went with some others to a local pub, where I met a true Ocker ("awk-ah", outback aussie bloke), who works for rodeos as a Gate Opener (opens the gate to let the bulls out). His name was Cornfed. Seriously. We questioned it and he said "Ya, you know, *not* Grainfed, I'm Cornfed." ha! More drinking & dancing (no hats tho) at the pub (much like the Harb back home), and some young guys tried to set me up with their friend. I'm sure he was all of 21, but I went along with it anyway, for fun. He was very nervous and shy and he tried to buy me a drink, but after we ordered, he realised that HE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY. Note to boys: when offering to buy a girl drinks, make sure you have the dough. ha! I pretended I didn't notice and offered to pay, & he was grateful. Then I took off. We went back to the house, the party was STILL going on.

Sunday: We went to see The Dish, which is a big satellite that the space-engineer-people use. I bought a snow globe with the dish inside of it. As if snow is feasible. We played lawn bowls in the afternoon - genuine 1970s drink prices and lawn bowling is free!

One of the fellows in the group is a chef at a posh Sydney restaurant, so he took care of dinner for us - roast lamb and chicken and veggies. Very yummy. And of course, more drinks, more dancing, more hats. Half of us kind of took it easy, and just chilled out for the evening. (The other half went even more hard core than they had on the other nights, with air-guitar-playing, table dancing, and then table-breaking-while-dancing-on-it and other such antics.) I was in the first group, no table-breaking for me. Once again, Jude & Col drank everybody under the table. They have livers of steel!

Monday: After and exhausting weekend, we got in the car for the 8 hour drive home.

Such a fun trip. Loved it. And I met so many great people, who made me feel so welcome. It was wonderful.

Only 12 more work days left!