The gates have opened at Flemington race course as the the crowds begin to arrive for the 150th Melbourne Cup.
Around 100,000 people are expected, reports Melbourne's Age newspaper, and they're being urged to take an umbrella, with showers likely.
Friends Michelle Alexander, Kristie Bailey and Sandra Sterchi were among the stream of punters arriving at Flemington who weren't about to let a dreary weather forecast ruin their day at the Cup.
"We said we have to go, we've got to experience it at least once," Kristie, of Noble Park, said.
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"With a couple of drinks we'll be fine," she said, brushing aside any concerns about the cold.
"The sun is going to come out. I can feel it in my bones."
Meanwhile, the line to buy a beer in the public area under the grand stand is already longer than that for the espresso bar.
So You Think?
Whether it will rain enough to affect favourite So You Think's chances is one of the big talking points.
One punter's so confident that the Bart Cumming's-trained horse will justify his Melbourne Cup favouritism that they've put down $40,000 on him at the short odds of three dollars twenty.
And many of the other jockeys in the race are conceding defeat, with Shocking's rider Michael Rodd and Descerado jockey Nash Rawiller conceding that if Bart Cummings' horse can last the distance, they're all competing for second.
