A Day at the Races. Crickey!

As I arrived in Brisbane, I was greeted at the gate by two lovely ladies, Steph and Zoe. They were my escorts to Eagle Farms for the Sport of Kings. Now, I've never been to a horse race before, but apparently it is a fancy affair. Nearly everyone was dressed to kill; suits, evening gowns, poofy hats, the works. We were slumming a bit in jeans, but they still took our money. We made it in time to wager on the final three races. I made 3 bucks on "Mi Casa su Casa", which reminded me of a certain Mexican restaurant, while Steph won $16 on "Hard to Catch", selected because the jockey wore a pink jersey. That pretty much sums up our whole betting strategy. After that, we supped at the pub before retiring to Barb and Ron's for the evening.

Steph brought some grits and maple syrup with her on the way over and I managed to smuggle in some Aunt Jemima, so the following morning we made the Smiths a traditional Southern breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and grits. The bacon we bought here; it's more like ham slices and doesn't crisp up quite right, but the rest turned out great. We were all surprised by how much they enjoyed it.

After breakfast, Steph and I went to the world famous Australia Zoo, home and final resting place :( of the Crocodile Hunter. It's a really nice zoo with a lot more chances to mingle with the animals than at other zoos I've visited. We got to feed kangaroos and elephants, cuddle with koalas, and wrestle crocodiles. That last one's not true, but the zoo had a great croc show that demonstrated how they stalk and kill their prey. They're fierce creatures. I was a little jealous that Steph had held a koala and I hadn't, but I finally got my turn at the zoo.

We got back that evening in time for some "roo on the barbie"; that's BBQed kangaroo. Yep, after feeding them earlier in the day, it was their turn to feed us in the form of tasty sausages and kabobs. Ron fired up the grill for us and their guests Marg and Heinz, Barb made some pavlova, and Zoe baked up some damper. All quite delicious and different than what we usually eat. Sated, we slept.