ANZAC Day is an important day in Australian history. ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. It is celebrated on April 25 in order to commemorate those soldiers who fought in Gallipoli, Turkey during World War I. Gallipoli could be compared to D-day in the US because there was a massive loss of Australian lives during that battel. The ANZAC legend is born from this, it created a sense of national pride for the Aussies and a sense of national identity away from Great Britain. Now ANZAC day is a national holiday much like Memorial Day back home, but of course with different traditions.
We got to experience of the biggest ANZAC Day tradition, gambling and the horse races! We decided to go to the Royal Randwick Races and it felt like the Kentucky Derby. We woke up early and started drinking wine. Courtney also had a friend from Indiana staying with us for the weekend. So we all got dressed and head off to the race tracks. We got their and even though we were in nice summer dresses we were pretty under dressed. The girls were wearing fancy cocktail dresses and extravagant hats. All the guys were in 3 piece suits or in their fancy uniforms all decorated with medals. We made our way down to the race track to watch some of the races. the race track was a cross country type of course (I dont know the proper name for it) not the typical circular race track. Some of us made bets on the horses, I didn't. I learned my lesson in Ireland betting on Yankee Pride who came in dead last! No more betting on the ponies for me! But it was still fun to root for the horse that was the prettiest or the coolest jokey colors and people watch.
After the races we were all really tired and hungry. Everyone passed out on the couches and I stayed up and watched Miss World and ate McDonald's haha!
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