Saturday, October 31

Halloween. There's been a few articles in the paper lately about the need to crack down on teenage pranks, as last year they had some problems down by the beach. Sounds very similar to the US with eggs being thrown, pumpkins smashed, that kind of thing.

Well everyone is talking about the Melbourne Cup, which takes place on Tuesday. Sounds comparable to the Kentucky Derby, if you live in Kentucky; but although Melbourne is on the East coast, everyone really gets into it here as well. People get really dressed up (must wear a hat) and not a goofy bird watching hat either, those don't look good with a dress and heels. Then everyone goes to a restaurant, where the prices are pretty much doubled, to watch the race on big screen TV's. There is betting, which is apparently government sponsored? or at least allowed, and it sounds like everybody gets off work to do this. Someone even said it's a public holiday, but I'm not sure about that. Bill's office sent him an invitation to attend, which he ignored as he figured he has way too much work to do, but he was told that everyone goes, so I told him he'd better plan on wearing a suit to work that day. I guess I'm invited too, but all I have to wear are blue jeans or hiking pants, Bill's ratty old sweatshirt and of course one of my bird watching hats. Better plan on staying home.

Well I actually found Travelzoo, the Australia version, on line, even though the US version told me they were still working on getting a site that specialized on travel deals originating in Australia. So it will be great to see what kinds of deals they offer here.

Picked up a few more aussi terms, like "moggies"means cats, "dodgy" is shoddy, and "grotty" is unpleasant or offensive.

One of Bill's coworkers loaned us a small T.V., but without cable you only get 4 channels. Cable sounds pretty similar to what is offered in the US, with various packages offering movie channels, kids programs, an aussie version of HGTV etc.