So yesterday was the public holiday for Ekka. Ekka (an Aussie abbreviation for exhibition) is the "Royal Queensland Show" which is sorta like a really big state fair. Anyway we had the Wednesday off so that people could go to the horse races for Mekka Wednesday.
A friend and I went to the city in the morning to try and find a fascinator (one of the funky hats/headpieces women wear at horse races) and it was surprisingly easy. I guess horse races are a bigger thing here than they are in America since A) we got a whole day off from school to go to the races and B) fascinators were in abundance at the Australian department store Myer with just about every price range in mind.
When we got to the Doomben race course, it was a beautiful sunny 80 degree day with not a single cloud in the sky. We took our seats and about a half hour later, the dark storm clouds rolled in. Just as the race was starting, it was like all heaven let loose in fire and brimstone. Buckets of rain fell from the sky, seemingly horizontally because of the strong wind and lightning flashed across the sky. Mud flew up on the race course as the horses flew by to the finish line; the speakers and umbrellas from the trackside area below fell over and flocks of mostly drunken people scrambled to take cover. Luckily, I had a dry seat under the overhang and got to just laugh at all of this, but my friends who had just left to get food, got caught in the storm. The storm lasted about 20-25 minutes before sunny blue skies opened up again. That's Australian weather for you I guess.
We stayed for another race while the sun was still out and then decided to leave afterwards since more storm clouds loomed in the distance. Thankfully, we got on the train just before the rain started agian. The conductor came down to scan everyone's "go cards" (what we use to get around Queensland's public transport system) and asked us in a really thick Australian accent, "Did ya getcha win?" We stared at him for a few moments totally unsure what he said. Finally we realized what he said and explained that we were just at the races to watch and didn't place any bets. Overall, it was a fun day at the races and I would definitely go agian if I get the chance, even if there's a massive storm in the forecast.
