For The Love of You: 11/08/11

Sale Cup Day

Racing season has arrived! We are not sure if it's all Australians but we quickly noticed how much Victorians love horses, and more importantly horse racing! Horse racing and going to horse races is just a way of life here. Between betting, getting dressed up, and admiring all the other fashions, horse racing is quite an exhilarating experience! Amanda and I had to be fashion ready for the big race day so we did a little shopping downtown Sale where we tried on some neat dresses. I ended up buying a gold dress but our favourite part was trying on all the funky fascinators (hats).

On October 23rd Amanda and I headed to the Sale Cup where many(amazing) local horses race. We first stopped at Alices' house whom works with Amanda. We toasted with champagne then arrived at the races at about 1:00pm. There were so many people and the fashions were so different and unique. I met up with some staff members at Bundalaguah and we sat along the fence of the racetrack. One of my students also had a horse in one of the races. Amanda, Alice and I participated inn Fashions on the Field, I made a bet (only $2.50 haha) but it was a really fun day! The weather was beautiful and Mark was able to come for a couple hours in between work.

Derby Day- Melbourne Cup Carnival

A few weeks after the Sale Cup I traveled to Melbourne to attend the famous Melbourne Cup Carnival for Derby Day. The Melbourne Cup Carnival attracts thousands of people- even famous celebrities! The fashion is taken very seriously and debuts some of the best horses in the world! Jenna,Kendra, Rianna and I woke early Saturday morning to beautify ourselves- I assisted with hair as we drank delicious mimosas. Our photographer, Darren snapped pictures of us in the park then we were off to Flemington race Track for the big day. Flemington was jam packed with people- it was like a sea of people, and we eventually made our way to the lawn stand where we found a 5 foot by 5 foot lawn area by the finish line where we laid down our blanket and went back and forth to watch the horses thunder by at the finsh line. The weather was wonderful and us girls had a great day!

All dressed up and ready to go!

So many flowers- beautiful!

finish line!

AI Travels

On Monday October 31st I had the day off so I decided to accompany Mark on one of his AI(Articfical Insemination) runs. As I had mentioned before Mark got a second job as a breeder with Genetics Australia is the select sires dealer- which has an office in Maffra. Mark recieved a route that includes roughly 6 farms. Depending on the day some of the farms may only have 3 cows to be bred and some may have 15-20 cows ready . These farms are located near the Gormandale area which is roughly 40 minutes away. We drove along winding roads, through the hills of trees. We even spotted some kangaroos! One of the farms was also built upon a hill which was cool to see. It was very fun to talk to and meet all the farmers and have a look around their farm. They asked me lots of questions and one of my favourite parts was that each farm had a dog or two and one had a puppy! I really enjoyed travelling with Mark to work and seeing how much he cares about the work that he does. He enjoys his AI job very much and he is doing really well with it!
Mark also breeds the cows on the farm he works on, which is usullay roughly 20 cows. On the fifth Mark has set a new personal record of breeding 101 cows. He was at 95 cows so he went for a beer at the neighbours and the asked the farmer if he needed any cows bred.