At the horse races in Rockhampton, Nancy's new friend the jockey, Craig, won first place in the first race of the day...but the horses were so fast that nancy chopped off the winning horse's head...

Journal and photos by Nancy Olson

I woke up groggy, at about eight.  Four hours of sleep is insufficient for me.  I've always required a lot of sleep, and I consider sleep to be the absolute best thing on Earth.

I got dressed and ready, because I knew Bill wanted to show me the ropes at the rugby fields.  I ate some Rice Krispies for breakfast, but here they call them “Rice Bubbles.”  You have to love the subtle differences...

After an uneventful trip to the rugby field, I jumped back on the Internet.  The problem with the Internet at the Fitzroy is that it uses the same phone line as the debit system, which, in Australia, is called EFTPOS.  Don't ask me what that stands for, 'cause I haven't a clue.  All I know is that, every time somebody needs cash, I get kicked off the Internet.  Likewise, my Internet use causes the machine to reject the first try.  I feel bad, because I know it's a pain in the tushy for Flame and Bill and the clientel to have to tell me to hop off the net every time they need to run a debit.  Sorry, Bill!  After a little while, Cora Lee came upstairs and told me I couldn't use the Internet at all today.

Well, that's alright, because today is race day.  I stayed here in Rocky to see the races, and that's what I needed to do.  I rode to the tracks with one of the hotel guests, Warren, who owns and trains trotters.  They are the horses that trot really fast around the track and pull a little buggy behind them.  He and I went to watch the thoroughbreds, and I was excited to see Craig, the jockey from O'Dowd's Pub, race.  He was in the first race, so I put two dollars on his horse and two dollars on another.  Craig's horse won, although the other horse lost, and I ended up winning $5.00.  How 'bout them apples?  I only had time to stay for one more race before it was time to go help Bill at the rugby matches.

It was a slow night.  The population of Rockhampton is too small to fill two separate venues, and it seems most of the town was at the races.  There weren't many people at the rugby matches, and I didn't sell many drinks.  By nine p.m., I was ready to go to bed.

I put my earplugs in, and I was able to go to sleep very easily.  I slept blissfully through the night.

Mileage: 0
Weather: Sunny
End Location: Fitzroy Hotel, Rockhampton

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