Roadtrip!

Two more sleeps until my next road trip! Yippee! Friday morning at 6AM (yikers), I'm getting in a car and travelling far far away to go the Parkes Picnic Races. Parkes is a small place in the dry country in New South Wales (the state where Sydney is). It's about a 7-8 hour drive from Melbourne. I'm going with Quinny & his friends.

Horse racing is a BIG deal in Australia, and everyone gets dressed up to go. So following a "champagne breakfast" on Saturday, we're off to the races for the day, which is really just an excuse to party, starting at 10 AM when the doors open. Weather permitting, Sunday's events include a lawn bowling competition, where drinks are served at geniune 1970's prices, and later on, there's promise of "hat dancing at Jude and Col Wilson's house". I don't know what hat dancing is, and I don't know Jude or Col Wilson, but I love their names and the idea that we might be hat dancing at their house. Monday we make the long, tired journey back to Melbourne (it's a long weekend here).

On another travel note, I've booked most of my flights for my trip in July, starting by going south to Tasmania, then up to Sydney, then up some more to Queensland (the hot tropical north) and then back down to Melbourne. Yay - it's really happening! I fly back to Vancouver on August 2nd and will be in Vancouver and Victoria for just over a week, before heading east to start my new student life. School - eek!