Winter horse races

Saturday after lunch we attended the horse races. It was quite a change from the summer races as there was not much of a crowd and it seemed that nearly everyone was wearing black, instead of all of the colorful outfits that we'd seen at other races. It looked more like a funeral.

We bet the first race, our horse was LAST.

We bet the second race, our horse was next to LAST.

We gave up and left!!!

Dan's new friend

Things here can get a bit boring at times. Saturday, after the races and b/f the cancer benefit that we were attending, we stopped back at our house for a beer.

Dan made friends w/this guy. The bird was very brave and really seemed to like the salt and vinegar chips soaked in beer.

Winter golf

It is the middle of winter here. Please notice the somewhat green grass...

and NO SNOW...plus the lack of parkas.

The guys were off on Sunday and we played 9 holes in the afternoon. It's members only until 2pm.

Bell Queensland Camel Races

Most of these need no explaination... other than some of the locals did dress as Arabs!

It was mainly informal and fun. There was betting on the races but we did not win. They lead them down to the starting area and turn them around and let go.

The races would start when the first camel took off. In the one race, our camel was still facing the wrong way when the race started. We knew that we were in trouble!

More of the Jimbour house

Included in these are the house from various angles and the gardens and the last is the sign on the Tennis court fence. and yes, that's cotton growing in the garden.

Jimbour house

Yesterday after the Camel races we went to a local attraction called the Jimbour house and winery. It's a beautiful HUGE home that was built between 1874-1876. The gardens are lovely and it includes a pool, tennis courts, private airport, stables, chapel and even it's own water tower. The wines were pretty ho hum for my taste, but the house and garden was so worth the trip. Pictured here are the water tower, the chapel, the drive to the house w/Dan, Sheryl and Frank and Frank and I posing in front of one of the unusual trees.

Australian Babies

I went to the grocery yesterday and just outside of the door were these people that asked if I wanted to buy a raffle ticket. Each lady was holding a blanket wrapped baby. I asked if I could win one of the babies... they laughed and said no, that what you would win was 50 scratch off lottery tickets. I purchased the tickets anyway... and they allowed me to hold the babies and take pictures. The larger of the 2 is a Grey Kangaroo, the smaller is a red-necked Wallaby. They were so cute and cuddly. Their moms were killed in traffic accidents and they will be turned back into the wild when they are about 18 months old.