The Bloody Long Walk was bloody painful

When your friend says she's doing a 35km charity walk and that you should join, you should really have a (bloody) long think about it before agreeing. 

Walking isn't hard, you say.

I love to walk, you say.

I can totally do that, you say. 

Sign me up, you say.

Training? I don't need to train, you say.

Ha! 

Just an FYI, walking 35km (21 miles) is not, by any means, easy. 

Things started off fine; I was enjoying the scenery and was concentrating on telling my feet to behave themselves and not hurt. Then the aches kicked. Then more. Then, 30km in, there was crying over the aches and pains and wondering if I could make it those last 5kms. 

Well, I did. Feet, legs, hips all screaming in pain. I had a hard-earned cider and giant bowl of chips, then proceeded to lay on the couch for the remainder of my day. 

I'm glad I did it, just to prove I could, and the company was lovely. But if you have any "fun" charity walks coming up any time soon, count this girl out!! 

Our team was called Unhappy Feet. Little did we know how appropriate it would be! 

You may call me Little Bo Peep

We spend a lot of time out at the farm. It's beautiful, peaceful, and there's always wine and homemade bread readily available.

In the seven months I've been here I've been able to do a bit of actual farm work, which is a sentence I never thought I would utter. 

But alas! I have, and I like it. Let's be honest, my favorite part about it is getting to pat lambs and try to make them love me. But there's also something calming about it, not to mention I like feeling like I'm actually contributing and being useful.

Some skills I've learned that may impress some of my friends:

1. How to drive a four wheeler

2. Mustering sheep with said four wheeler

3. Droving sheep, also with said four wheeler

4. Marking lamb ears

5. Giving innoculations

6. General pushing/moving/interacting with sheep

7. Becoming an expert lamb holder (this is not a useful skill, just something I like to do if a lamb isn't fast enough to get away from my cuddles)

And I'm off to the races

Picture a college football tailgating situation. 

Now replace F150s and RVs with Range Rovers and BMWs. Get rid of that Lonestar and Bud Light and bring in the bubbly. School colored attire is replaced with a nice frock, and baseball caps become outlandish hats or fascinators.

And that is a Melbourne Cup "car park".  

The Spring Racing Carnival is a huge deal here in Melbourne. There are four (I think?) races throughout the week, with the biggest one being the Melbourne Cup. Everyone even gets the day off to attend or partake in other activities! 

For someone who had never been to a horse race, the whole experience was quite interesting. Wearing a pretty dress and fascinator while sipping champagne seemed like a pretty good way to spend a day, in my opinion. 

It also didn't hurt that I won some money on a couple races, which if you know me then you're aware what a big deal it is that I even entertained the idea of betting money. Side note: I feel very conflicted about the actual sport of horse racing, so I am choosing to focus on the champers, fashion, and classy day drinking situation. 

The day started with a big breaky consisting of things that Australians are sadly not very familiar with: breakfast casserole and mimosas. I mean the casserole, fine, but mimosas?! For a country that loves to drink, they're severely lacking in that area.

After a crash course in how racing odds work, I placed about five bets throughout the day. My biggest win was picking a horse called Hijack Hussy to win a race, which she did. The ticket below won me a few bills for the horse getting third place in the big cup race.

We left the safety of our car park area to venture out to the actual track so I could see one of the races. It was basically a writhing mass of well dressed, drunken humanity. 

But it was fun to see my winning horse prancing by!

Dolla dolla bills, y'all.

Needless to say, it was a lively rain ride back home. My chins had a great time.