Horse racing and the Australian Alps

Photos:
1. Winning at the races!
2. Graeme and Jillian
3. The Grazings Restaurant in the Royal Hotel, Gundaroo
4. Lake Jindabyne
5. Lara at Charlotte's Pass
6. Mount Kosciuszko
7. Lara amonst the Snow Gums
8. The Australian Alps
9. Kangaroos massing behind Jim
10. Sunset on a great weekend!

On Saturday, after a few hours of (early Australian time) work, we walked downtown to a pancake house where Lara indulged her craving for strawberry crepes and Jim satisfied his craving for a real newspaper! (Note: The equivalents of two “Grand Slam Breakfasts” set us back: $41 Australian $28 US.)

Since it was still early (9am), we decided to walk off the calories with a stroll along a new route of Lake Burley Griffin. About 4 miles into the “stroll,” getting concerned as we were seeing fewer and fewer “strollers/hikers/runners”, we hailed bikers and discovered that we were only about a third of the way back to any known civilization! Would we be the first tourists to die a horrible death just getting lost around Burley Griffin? We stopped at the Canberra Yacht Club to get some water and to watch the crew races (teams of 30 in long, skinny canoes with oriental dragon heads on the front and much yelling– go figure?). However, we discovered that the Yacht Club is a “Members Only” establishment. Undeterred (and fearing an ugly death by dehydration or, worse, a miserable hour walking with a grumpy, thirsty Lara), Jim struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was working on his sailboat. In no time Jim was this bloke’s best friend and (more importantly) “guest”. Soon, the two of them emerged from the club: The gentleman toting a schooner of beer and Jim with the two bottled waters. Ah, gotta love the Aussies! We are saved from yet another opportunity to die in Australia!

We finally arrived home after our 3 hour stroll and changed into our Race Day Clothes. We had been warned that the races are a dress up affair. The ladies wear fancy hats, dresses and some men may be in top hats and tails!

Graeme (one of Lara’s clients) had suggested we meet them there on Saturday afternoon. Graeme found us straight away (I think we were standing in the “bookie” section where he was placing his bets) with the following greeting in his thick Scottish accent, “Ken A offer ye a beer?”

With a few “borrowed” members badges we joined Graeme’s friends and family in the members section of the racing club where we were introduced us to his wife, Jillian. See the photos. Since we had our camera and were looking a bit like “tourists,” Graeme suggested we “tak a photae o ma wifie” who was cashing in her winnings. We looked a little puzzled until he loudly informed us in his Scottish accent that a photo of Jillian actually winning money was a truly unique event!

We carefully listened to Graeme’s betting “system” (since he used to own 1/112th of a race horse): “Dae nae wad on the naig that is sweity and fleyed afore the breel” (Translation: Don’t bet on the horse that’s sweaty and spooky before the race.). We then headed off to find a bookie (who was sweaty and spooky) where we began making huge wagers ($5AUS!). In actual practice, it seemed that Graeme’s system mostly consisted of random wagers followed by yelling “Run, ya donkey!” (he sounded a bit like Shrek to us which kept Lara at a slight giggle most of the race).

Graeme and Jillian left early as they had to meet their mates to throw a few fish on the Barbie.

As we came up to the last race of the day, we were still $6 up and Lara wanted to take our winnings and skip away triumphantly. Jim was busily examining the horses and noticed one with “fire in his eye” and a teeny, tiny jockey! Over Lara’s slight protests, he placed his bet and we cheered the horse to a 4 length going away win, ending up the day $26 richer and Jim got to gloat all the way to dinner!

That evening, we had reservations at The Grazings in Gundaroo (as recommended by Julie Morelocks “mum”). It turned out that Jillian/Graeme’s best mate is the manager at Grazings and they had called to tell her to “take good care of us!” I’m beginning to think that Australia is small enough that everyone knows everyone else!

Gundaroo is a tiny little farming town jut north of the city. We walked around the dusty main street (5 or 6 buildings) and found a historic plank building that was left open so we let ourselves in. The interior was sealed with old newspapers and we saw one section with newspapers from January 1857! We got to the restaurant early and found a delightful anteroom to the restaurant where we could play a quick game of Scrabble. Continuing his “best day ever,” Jim won by a single point! Jillian’s friend (Beth) and our waitress (Stephanie) provided great conservation and insights into Australian life.

We managed to make it back without hitting any kangaroos (however we ate one as an “entrée” – tastes like chicken….) getting home much past our usual 9:00pm bedtime.

On Sunday, we got up at a leisurely 8am to head to the Australian Alps for sightseeing and trout fishing. We drove up into the clouds at Charlotte’s Pass near the base of Mount Kosciuszko (the tallest “mountain” in Australia at 7313’).

There was a cool walk among the “Snow Gums” which are the higher altitude version of the eucalyptus trees all twisted and gnarly as a result of the cold winds and snow.

The scenery was strikingly different from anything we had seen so far and well worth the trip and $16 AUD fee for the park entrance.

We had an interesting lunch where we found that a “Burger with the Works” involves a small hamburger pattie (or at least we thought it was hamburger…) and a combination of Canadian style bacon, pineapple, beets, lettuce, onions, cheese, and a few other “dodgy bits”. It was surprisingly tasty!

Then we met up with our fishing guide. As usual (for Jim), the guide started the conversation by saying “You should have been here yesterday!” Apparently, it was a great fishing day on Saturday but today a cold front had just moved in (temperatures in the low 40’s with high winds!) and the fish were not biting. Jim still had a great time and Lara got a good photo of kangaroos trying to figure out how to cross the river with Jim in the way.

There were large wombat holes all around the river – big and deep enough for a tourist to fall into and never, ever be seen again (Ah Ha! Another way to die in Australia). As near as we can tell, a wombat is like a huge gopher. I would hate to find these things in my yard. Bravely, we looked in every hole but (thankfully?) we never saw one. Oh well….

On the way out and back, we stopped at the McCafe (a coffee shop add-on to the standard McDonalds). We felt guilty, but the tea and coffee were good!

All in all, another great weekend!