I had the loveliest weekend doing another thing that’s new to my world… I went to the races for the first time ever and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Through a friend of my friend, we were invited to attend Pink Ribbon day at the Gold Coast races, and we did it in style!

We left Brisbane on Friday afternoon – I took an early mark from work- and battles our way through not only Friday afternoon, but also first day of school holiday traffic! Thank goodness for a good playlist, because I sang my way through it all. We stayed at Mantra Sharks, a hotel attached to the Southport Sharks football club. I was impressed and amazed at the size of the club house, and our room was also great. We got ourselves a drink and some dinner and then went to the rooftop bar for some music and people watching.

Coincidentally my friend met someone that he had gone to primary school with in the smokers area of the bar, so we spent a couple of hours catching up with them… lots of reminiscing about people I don’t know, but it was fun to hear some of the stories!

We got up pretty early on race day and took ourselves off to get some Brekky. We were waiting on our friends to get there, and when we realised that they would be later than we had thought, we made the most of the opportunity and hit the beach!! It was sensational!!! A crystal clear blue sky and water day that just called for me to get in for some salt water therapy! It was fresh!! – but sooo good!!

Back to our room for showers and an outfit change, before meeting our friends. I (in typical Robbie fashion – this has happened more than once now!) had a shoe blow out… so my strappy pink sandals went into the bin and I resorted to a much less attractive, but way more comfortable back up pair … crisis averted!

Our tickets for the day gave us entry into a corporate box which meant beautiful food and drinks (Möet for me thank you very much!) a great view of the track and sensational people watching… I couldn’t really ask for a whole lot more! We also got to go down to the stables and see all of the getting ready that happens for the horses. Our friend’s cousin is one of the trainers and had a couple of horses in the races. It was a super cool thing to get to see, and highlighted just how labour intensive this industry is. There are so many people involved in getting to horses to the track… and they are truly magnificent animals!

Our spot in the box put us almost in line with the finish, and just above the mounting yard. It was fabulous standing outside watching the showing of the horses, the jockeys mount up and then hearing the horses thunder past! … and again, the people watching! All kinds of people from all kinds of places. Some dressed to the nines with sequins and feathers and all kinds of glamour, down to the ones who were super casual in shorts or jeans…. I had a ball!

We finished the day with a AFL football finals game – some in the group were happier with the outcome than others, and then another nightcap in the roof top bar.

Sunday morning saw us up early and off for a swim in the ocean again! Another cracking day albeit slightly cooler than the one before, but the water was glorious and just the thing for those feeling a bit seedy! We met up with our friends for a super yummy buffet Brekky, and then made the treck back home – thankfully with much nicer traffic than the trip down!

It was a truly fun weekend with great people, lots of laughs and a whole slew of new experiences for me! Thanks for the invite.. I had a ball xx