Wellington Races and the Zoo

Trip Start Aug 13, 2007
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Trip End Dec 31, 2008


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Sunday, January 27, 2008

On Saturday we went to the main racing event of the year for Wellington, the Wellington Cup Carnival. This is similar to Ascot, where most people dress up, and I saw plenty of hats. We caught the train and got a deal on the tickets that included entry to the races as well. We actually caught the 'express' train to Trentham (where the race ground is), as Wellington council had put extra trains on for the day. However, about 5 minutes away from the ground the train decided to break down. We waited for about 30 mins, but all the carriages were packed and there was no air conditioning, and the temperature outside was approaching 30 deg. Eventually someone managed to open the doors, and then there was a steady stream of people pouring out from the train and walking the few minutes to get into the grounds. Not a good start!

We didn't have much luck with the betting either Piling off the train to get to the races
Piling off the train to get to the races
 . I'd got some tips from my boss Richard as he's very interested in horse racing, but his tips weren't working out for us. Luckily by the last couple of races I'd reverted to my normal strategy of randomly picking a horse. On the last race, I picked Marty Boy and he won. He wasn't one of the favourites so I pretty much won all my money back from the day. Not bad at all. Graham also picked a winner in the race before that one, so we didn't end up losing too much money.

On Sunday, we went to the zoo. Graham has joined a group called the Wellies, which is a group in Wellington for ex pat IT professionals and their families. First event they did was a brewery tour, which Graham went to in December. This time it was a family day out at the Zoo. We were in two minds whether to go as we were pretty tired from the races, but in the end we turned up, as I wanted to test my camera with some animal photos. It was nice to meet people in similar circumstances, and in Wellington everyone seems to know everyone else, as we met a couple there, who know someone that I work with.

They had arranged for us all to use the area by the elephant house, and had a BBQ set up. They'd also arranged for one of the zoo keepers to bring some small animals out to show the kids. We saw a tortoise and a blue tongued skink. Afterwards, we wandered round taking photos, but my camera battery died halfway through, so we decided we would come back another day to take some more photos.
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