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Published: November 5th 2008
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Melbourne Cup Day
November 4, 2008
It was a fine day in Victor Harbor. The weather was perfect and because it is the day of the Melbourne Cup (a bigger deal in Australia than the Kentucky Derby is in the U.S.) the town was filled with a festive atmosphere. We had heard that the whole country shuts down for the race, but if it does it’s to party all day. Last minute betting was going on everywhere we looked, the hotels were having fancy luncheons and the ladies were decked out in race day finery despite the fact that they were 600 kilometers from Melbourne. The excitement was certainly contagious and although we didn’t bet we did partake in eating the street vendor food and people watching. We were going to bet on the horse “Efficient” because our friend in Darwin’s son was its jockey. But we heard on TV a few days ago that Efficient had scratched and we didn’t have a second favorite.
We did take time out to vote an “overseas” ballot. We left the U.S. too early to obtain an absentee ballot so we had to print out the ballot from e-mail, sign an affidavit,
and fax it. We had requested this before we left. The clerks in the “Office Shop” that faxed our ballots were quite impressed that we were doing this and definitely had their opinions on how we should vote. Australia, by the way, has mandatory voting and citizens get fined if they don’t vote. Wonder how that would change politics if the U.S. had that law.
Later in the afternoon we entered what is known as the Coorong. It is a massive estuary system at the mouth of the Murray River (the largest river in Australia) and the subject of great controversy with similar issues that affect the Everglades in the U.S. (diversion of fresh water flows, agricultural runoffs, etc.) According to locals it just isn’t what it used to be. We did take a couple of short walks, one on the Goolwa Beach and one along the impressive Murray River after we had crossed it by ferry. Like the Everglades, the Coorong, even in its diminished state offers a lot to see and appreciate and Joe was able to add several new water and shore birds to his list.
We were excited to see two emus in the
Melbourne Cup Day
All dressed up for the fancy luncheon. wild near Kingston and this time we weren’t on a train so we could stop and get a good look at them. Wow, is the appropriate exclamation.
Our final stop for the day was in Robe, SA. It is a friendly little town and our cabin looks out onto the ocean. In the communal barbeque area there are pots for boiling the giant crayfish that can be caught here. We ate dinner in the cabin, and then took a long walk along the beach, then back via the main street. Things were pretty quiet, which was ok with us. We’d had enough excitement today.
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