What a weekend

As the title of this post suggests, this past weekend was one for the history books. You see, Saturday was Race Day, which uni students basically plan their year around. You buy a $60 ticket for 5 hours of an open bar, and everyone dresses up in derby fashion. It was a complete transformation--the boys I'm used to seeing with long greasy hair and walking around with no shoes were now freshly showered and in dress pants and button down shirts! And of course for the ladies it was just a big fashion show, everyone looked amazing!

You would think that after 5 hours of free drinks I wouldn't even remember anything about Race Day, but let me explain. You see, Thursday night at the bar was a little rough for me...I may or may not have been crawling on all fours trying to stand up. Anyway, the next day someone pointed out to me in a sarcastic manner that I am a "classy drunk". Hmm..."It appears I need to slow my roll," I thought. So I vowed that I would remember Race Day.

So, I took it slow. And let me tell you--it was AWESOME. I got to watch girls fall flat on their backs, watch girls cry, watch girls get escorted out by security...I'm pretty sure most of these people didn't even realize they were at a horse race. I even bet on two horses! (Didn't win because I decided to bet on the underdog--don't do that). So all in all it was a fun day and I totally recommend being on the other side of the fence once in a while, because it is hilarious. The Gold Coast Turf Club is absolutely gorgeous as well, you can see the skyline of the city in the background as you watch the horses race by.

On Sunday, I finally made it to Burleigh Heads (a beach a bit south from Surfers Paradise). This place was beautiful. As always, the water was crystal clear but there were shells too! There is also a cute town with little shops and restaurants. The best part, however, is the national park, where you can go for a walk up the side of a mountain where you are eventually greeted by a breathtaking overlook of the ocean. At some point I would love to hike there at night and see the stars.

After Burleigh, we headed over to $2 steaks which is probably my favorite thing ever. Basically everyone heads over to a pub called Waxy's, where you can order a steak, sauce, fries and salad for $2 each and $3 Budweiser, all while enjoying live music and hanging out with friends in a great atmosphere.

We all then went out to celebrate Claire and Steph's 20th birthdays at Beer Garden in Surfers. First of course we had to have a huge photo shoot in the bathroom.

Then, since they were getting so many free shots from people because it's their birthday I thought hey, maybe I should play the birthday card. So, my friend Isabelle and I went up to the bar and started shouting about how it's my birthday, and low and behold, some poor mislead boy bought us drinks! ("Thanks man! *runs away*). You gotta do what you gotta do. It didn't stop there either--Isabelle and I also began to scavenge for dropped coins on the ground near the bar. You see in Australia, if you drop a coin, it's never just a basically worthless penny, they don't have those here. Their $2 coins are even smaller than a penny, and their $1 coins are about the size of a quarter. So, if you drop a coin here you drop to the ground and retrieve it immediately (or at least us cheap Americans do--no shame. Yes, I crawled under a pool table to grab a 20 cent coin. "I'm just looking for my phone" I said to some guy who was staring at me with a very confused face.) You can judge all you want but Isabelle and I ended up finding enough to buy a tequila shot.

That's all for now!

Dana