When I first moved to Australia over a decade ago I was baffled about a certain public holiday. I was living in Adelaide then and I was doing my work placement at the Hilton. All the businesses were running but during the course of the day it seemed most people who are meant to be working in the city were spilling out to the streets and finding themselves into bars and pubs and hotel foyers. That was my first introduction to Melbourne Cup. I knew of Melbourne as the bigger city not far from Adelaide but I had no idea what this “cup” was all about. To be told that Melbourne had a public holiday because of hose racing was mind boggling. I did, initially and for a second, think that it was a bunch of “horse” (different spelling) running..some form of religious holiday about Magdalene. But the guys whom I was working with said “track” and “bets” so understandably the images stilettos vanished and were replaced by horseshoes. So that is Melbourne, a city that stops with her citizens all dressed up enjoying champagne or beer at the horse tracks. Click here to see what it looks like last year at the 2012 Melbourne Cup. Warning: Images may make you laugh and shake your head.