Melbourne Cup, Nov 2013

Last year, on my arrival in Melbourne, my plane landed on the first Saturday in November. I was standing in the Melbourne airport with John Hattie (who'd arrived to greet me), waiting for Janet (who was coming in on a different flight). I felt completely bedraggled from the long flight from LAX, and the flights before that from Kalamazoo that got me to LAX. My teeth needed brushing. I felt all greasy and stinky. Meanwhile, the whole airport was filled with men in suits and women wearing these fantastic dresses, looking all crisp and beautiful. Their luggage carts were 1/3 hat boxes. I started to think that perhaps I had made an uninformed choice about my decision to move here - this was not a fashion standard I was prepared to uphold. I turned to John, who, thankfully was wearing a polo shirt, shorts, and flip flops, "Isn't Australia supposed to be pretty casual in terms of dress?" "Oh yes, Amy, generally, but it's the Melbourne Cup this week." I had no idea what that meant, but I was really grateful not to have gotten that part about Aussie culture wrong.

Since I've been here a year, I've had a bit of time to learn about the Melbourne Cup http://melbournecup.com/ . It's one of the biggest events in Melbourne (which is saying something when you consider we host THE TENNIS) - and maybe the entire country.It happens on the first Tuesday in November every year and it's a public holiday - most businesses and restaurants are closed. They call it "The race that stops the nation."

At Melbourne Uni, it's more of a pause - the university doesn't close. But everyone in the Graduate School of Education who didn't take a vacation day [leave day] does gather in the staff lounge to watch the race, drink a glass of champagne [bubbles], have some snacks [nibbles], and check how they've done in the betting pools [sweeps] - all of which are sponsored by the college. It's fascinating.

The whole city is mad for it for several days before - there are races all weekend leading up to the big race on Tuesday afternoon. There's a parade. People everywhere are dressed quite fancily - guys in suits, women in dresses, high heels and "fascinators" which means a non-hat hat for ladies (it's what was in all those hat boxes my first day at the airport). You can check out the fashion here: http://www.vogue.com.au/culture/racing+carnival/galleries/what+they+wore+melbourne+cup+2013,27393?pos=3#top


This year, a friend happened to be celebrating his birthday at a pub not too far from the race grounds. I rode my bike over around 8pm to raise a glass, and found the ENTIRE pub packed with men in suits and womein in spectacularly high heels and feathery fascinators - and they had been drinking all day at the races. I, of course, was nattily dressed in jeans, sandals, and a fleece (it's spring here). Luckily I had tucked my bright green high visibility jacket in my handbag before walking into the bar. At least I had recently showered and brushed my teeth this year.