Week 11: Markets, Festivals, and the Melbourne Cup

Last Tuesday was the Melbourne Cup, "the race that stops the nation" here in Australia. For those that can't be in Melbourne to celebrate the horse race, it's an excuse for a short day at the office and drinking festivities. Many of my friends had office parties with their coworkers or the day off entirely. Since my office isn't really "Australian" though, our staff being from all over the world, we didn't have too much excitement in our building. At the end of the day however we drank wine and spontaneously bet amongst ourselves on one of the races, and I won $20! Woo!

Friday night, Nikita and I went down to the Rocks for what was supposed to be a Night Bazaar. It wasn't as big as we thought it would be, but we watched an entertaining colonial storyteller for a bit and split some vegetarian dumplings before exploring the Hole in the Sky bar. As part of the event, we received bird masks to put on when entering the venue. The bar was small, but three stories tall, and everything was white (floor, chairs, tables, etc.) Everyone sat on the floor. In one small corner was a black birds nest that a few people were sitting in too.... so strange. We stayed maybe 5 minutes before leaving for a bar we had been wanting to try near the Quay called Palmer & Co. We ended up meeting a guy getting married on Sunday and being entertained by his extremely drunk best man, who was trying to find somewhere to dance. Great bar, especially compared to the bird bar.... eek.

Saturday I took a personal day to explore the Glebe markets and check out Watsons Bay. The Glebe markets have an ecletic mix of stalls, many of the clothing tents being what looks like rich girls selling their closets to make money (rows of hangers with cute clothes for $10 from brands like Top Shop, Zara, etc.) I also had some AMAZING lemonade... there's something about fresh squeezed lemonade on a hot day that never fails to delight. Watsons Bay was a ferry ride away, and boasts fresh fish n' chips by the dock. The ferry ride was beautiful (still a Florida girl at heart I guess - I love being on the water), and I managed to find Camp Cove, which is a small beach area away from the touristy dock area. The water was perfectly clear, and felt great on such a hot day. Watson's Bay is great because it definitely has a small ocean villlage feel, but in the distance you an see the outline of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Sunday was rainy and a bit dreary. The Newtown Festival was still on, and even though I missed out on the dog show in the morning on account of the rain, I went for a few hours in the afternoon with Chelsea for some good food, live music, and shopping. We even got a free smoothie from a lady making them on the back of her bike (when she peddaled, it blended the drink. So cool!!).  In the monring I killed a few hours at Starbucks to get some work done and get of the apartment. Even though it's out of my way, I've made my way over there a couple times this past week because they have Chrsitmas music playing and I just love it! Australian Starbucks coffee is pretty crap, but the atmosphere is still great and I usually get my favorite seat in a window seat over looking Darling Harbour and the boats.


Also a S/O to my mom and family for the birthday package! I was mentioning to Chelsea last week how I haven't gotten any mail in Australia (understandably). My favorite part of the box were handmade cards from Eric and Michael though, that looked like two year olds drew them. I showed them to my roommates, and they were like "Oh cute! How old is you brother, like 4 or 5?" HA!