Melbourne Grand Prix

14th - 17th March 2013

Something that was very high up on my list of priorities whilst here in Australia was to go to the Melbourne Grand Prix, so I did. Easily the coldest and wettest experience I've had in Australia but definitely one of the best.

I was surprised at how accessible everything was. I only had a General Admission ticket which would allow me into most areas but I was surprised to find that I could actually get pretty much anywhere. There was a bar right next to the main straight that I thought you would surely have to be VIP to enter but no, i walked right in. I even managed to sneak into nearly all of the grandstands around the circuit over the course of the weekend (not on race day, obviously). You can't visit the pit areas of the F1 teams but you can for all of the support races including V8 races, porsche, celebrity and historic races.

Porsche garages

There were a few races in each support category over the weekend but the biggest of these was the V8 races which is a much bigger deal than I realised, especially here in Australia, they go mental for it. For most of the support races I just wanted to see people crash as I didn't really have much interest in them but I found myself getting really into the V8 races.

Back of the V8 garages

V8 racing

There was so much other stuff going on besides what was on the track. I found myself constantly looking at the schedule to make sure I could see everything that I wanted to see. There was a live action area which had repeat performances on all weekend. One of the acts was this guy that flew around on this big pendulum type thing doing tricks. There was a massive inflatable thing that you could launch yourself onto from a 10 metre board if you had the nerve. The biggest of these performances was the Nitro Circus where they do all kinds of tricks on anything with two wheels. There main show was to be the headline act on Sunday after the race but the weather meant they had to tone it down a little.

Nitro Circus

One of the highlights of the whole race weekend came on the Thursday at the autograph stage where all the F1 drivers showed there faces. I have no use for a piece of paper with a famous persons name on it so I just camped out in front of the stage rather than in a very long queue. I couldn't believe how close I got to all the drivers. I've seen them so many times over the years on TV and here they were less than 5 metres away. I saw all the big names: Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Button, Hamilton. It was a shame Schumacher retired because that would have been amazing. Vettel got a suitable booing from the Aussie crowd but I'm sure that's nothing to the treatment he'll get next year after what he did to Webber in Malaysia the following week.

Aussie Ledge!

British Ledge!

Pair of....ledges

The following day at the Autograph stage the celebs from the Celebrity Mazda races had their turn. There was only a couple of names I recognized. One of them was Chris Tarrant and I'm not particularly bothered about seeing him but the other was Sir Chris Hoy, a true legend in sport and I had to go and see him!

An actual Sir

As if there wasn't already enough going on I look upwards and see there's all kinds of crazy stuff going on in the sky as well! The Australian equivalent of the Red Arrows were on everyday of the weekend, a jet fighter made everyone wet themselves every now and again by flying over the track and a few minutes before the race a huge jumbo jet made a pass.

I can see you

Where's the airport?!

Ahhh the weather. Thursday: Gorgeous, got sun burnt. Friday: A bit cloudy, still got burnt. Saturday: pneumonia! It was bloody freezing! I was watching Free Practice 3 when the meanest looking cloud rolled in from behind the stand and soaked everyone underneath it.

I think it might rain

I had a jacket on but it wasn't enough for the deluge that came. It was only 15C which is bloody freezing when you've spent over 6 months in +30C. I tried to take some videos of the first part of Qualifying but my hands were shaking so much that they are barely watchable. Q2 got postponed for 10 minutes to let the rain pass and the track to dry out. It did neither of those things and the marshals started sweeping the standing water. Another 10 minutes and then another 20 before they called it quits and decided to run Qualifying in the morning before the race.

A tad wet

Where I hid waiting for Qualifying to resume

I came prepared for race day which was the day with the worst weather forecast. I heard an Aussie say behind me that there has never been a wet race in Australia before but I put on my bin liner full of confidence that I was as prepared as I could be for the onslaught. It was dry all day! Still it protected me against the wind which was bitter.

Prepared!

I got there early and picked the best spot I could find which I had scoped out over the past few days and sat there for 8 hours waiting for the race to start. Sounds bad but there was still lots going on. There was the rest of the postponed qualifying and a few more support races.

One thing that was particular interesting was the Speed Comparison Test where an F1 car was pitted against a V8 race car and a normal road sports car. They set off about a minute apart and all crossed the line at the same time.

Speed Comparison Test

The excitement built throughout the day especially when this Italian lot got out the banner and their beers. A few more jet passes and the drivers parade and it was time to race!

Well said!

Drivers parade

I bought I portable radio so I could try and stay in touch with what was happening in the race. There was the big screen right in front of us but you don't always get the full story so I turned it up as loud as it would go and jammed in ear phones hard into my ears and tried my best to listen. It was difficult to say the least but if I kept hold of the ear phones I could just about make out what they were saying.

Racing

I think it was an exciting race but having never been to a race before it was hard to tell if it really was or not. Raikkonen won the race with Alonso 2nd and Vettel in 3rd.

Before the race they had shown a notice saying do not enter the track until the safety car had been past showing a green light. So I positioned myself as close to a gap in the fence as I could get and jumped over as soon as the car went past. I must have been the 5th person onto the track but that finishing straight is longer that it looks on TV! It nearly killed me running down to the podium! I swear I was having a heart attack whilst they were lifting their trophies.

Winner!

Martin Brundle = Ledge!

Sky team

Ted talking to Christian Horner

Best day ever

The pits

As night began to fall and the mass dismantle of everything began the security seemed to become a bit lax. All the places you not allowed to go before suddenly I could walk right in without anyone stopping me. It became a game of how far can I go into F1s inner circle before someone stopped me. In the VIP section there was a small stand of seats where people were waiting to get autographs of people. I walked right in front of that and decided to hang around where all the famous people were getting into the cars. There were a few old race drives including Niki Lauda. I thought I might hand around for someone like Bernie but I was exhausted so I went home.

Pretending I'm a VIP

What a weekend! I'm so glad that I've finally been to a Formula 1 Grand Prix and I think that it was even more special because it was in Melbourne. I really hope to go again and even see another one somewhere else. I plan to go to Kuala Lumper next year where the tickets a dirt cheap and I mean ridiculously cheap. (£15 for a weekend ticket!)

I took a lot of videos this weekend so I decided to make a video montage. Its awesome!

Melbourne in a Day

13th - 20th March 2013

Ahhhh Melbourne. Supposedly the most like the UK out of all the major cities in Australia. It pissed it down for almost the whole time I was there so yes I suppose that statement is true. I arrived early on 13th March roughly 24 hours before day 1 of the Melbourne Grand Prix so I decided to get out and see as much of Melbourne as I could before the epic weekend.

The hostel was probably the oddest one I've stayed in so far. Out the back and on top of a laundrette it had the feel of it being botched together without much planning. I suppose it was like any normal hostel except the corridor in the middle of it was outside so if you wanted to go from your room to the kitchen, bathroom or lounge area you have to get a bit wet (if it was raining). It was a bit of a dive but it was clean and the couple that own it are so friendly you forget about all the little bits that need improving.

Inside Melbourne Museum

I went off to scope out the city. First place I came to was Melbourne Museum. I had a quick look around the entrance where there was some plastic animals, some cars and an old plane. It was $10 to go in so I noted it down as somewhere I might go one day if I got bored. First fail!

I went into the CBD where I saw the famous Melbourne trams. There are a ridiculous amount of them on every street. God knows how the manage it and no one crashed into them! The old ones like this one are on a loop around the city every 10 minutes for free although I think I might of got on one a couple times when it wasn't free but I wasn't sure so I decided I would play ignorant if I was asked.

Old Parliament

Further into the city I came across State Parlimant Building where the Australian Government used to be before it moved to Canberra. I thought maybe, possibly, it might be interesting to go in and have a look around. It was free after all. 'Maybe another day,' I think, 'when I have more time.' Second fail!

The Hotel Windsor

I walked past a very posh looking hotel on my way to the Botanic Gardens. I thought about hanging around to try and see some famous people as it seemed like the kind of place they would be at just ahead of the Grand Prix but I carried on.

My favourite spot

Into the Botanic Gardens now and I found my favourite spot in the whole Melbourne. The peacefulness and tranquillity of the garden with the skyscrapers looking like they've grown straight out of the field like the trees. With the risk of sounding like a complete artsy fartsy douche it was very picturesque and I don't think this photo does it justice.

John F Kennedy Memorial

This was odd. I didn't really understand why there would be a memorial for an American president in Australia. I meant to find out but I never did. Maybe someone can shed some light on this for me?

Cooks Cottage

I was initially impressed by the oldest building in Australia (Cooks Cottage) which was built in 1755 until I discovered that it wasn't even built in this country. It was built in England and was moved to Melbourne in 1934. I'm pretty sure they would have had to dismantle it for that so yeah, it is the oldest building in Australia but it isn't the oldest construction which is not nearly as impressive! Its supposed to remind people of the connection to the British Empire and James Cook.

Miniature Tudor Village

Another random feature in the park was this miniature Tudor village complete with gas grid! This was next to the 'Fairy tree' where fairies have been carved and painted onto the side of a tree for some reason.

I have absolutely no idea!

Warney

Out of the park and back to the stuff where I know what I'm talking about, sport. I went to the Melbourne Cricket Ground which is just on the outskirts of the CBD where I spotted Shane Warne. Unfortunately not the real one but a statue. I went into the entrance of the museum where I could almost see into the ground so I took a quick picture before deciding that I would come back and pay for the tour when I was earning money. I think thats three fails now!

Inside the MCG

MCG

Melbourne Park with Hisense Arena in the background

A short walk over the train tracks is Melbourne Park, home of Australian Open Tennis Tournament. I quite fancied a look in the Rod Laver Arena to see the place where Andy Murray had lost the grand slam final just two months ago this but you had to go on a tour.Yet another fail!

Rod Laver Arena

Federation Square Steps

I walked back into the city and to the most well known place in Melbourne, Federation Square. If there's something going on in this city then its happening here. I can remember a scene from Neighbours being filmed here. Speaking of Neighbours I was planning to go on the tour. I'm sure you can see where this is going ...FAIL!

Federation Square

Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Hollie told me of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image which sounds dull but you can go and play games all day long. There was a lot of old school games but you could also play Mario Kart on the Wii and a racing game on the Xbox. I think I wasted an hour in here before deciding I should probably go and see some other stuff.

Flinders Street Station

I hopped on a tram for the first time to get to the other side of the city where they had recently opened a new shopping district. It was crap so I walked back towards the city where I found a random statue of Dame Edna as you do.

Looked like it had been left here by mistake

Etihad Stadium

Whilst I was walking back to the hostel I was thinking about how awesome it would be to do the Great Ocean Road once I had some money and as its so close. Nope, Fail!

I like to think for the sake of the blog title that the next bit was part of the same day but it wasn't. It was on the Monday after the grand prix when I met up with Marina, the french girl I'd met in Adelaide.

A building in a building

That evening Marina and I went to meet Chelsea and Sam from Leeds. It was so nice to catch up with them again and Sams beard as grown a lot since Port Douglas! We went to St Kilda Beach for a chance to watch the penguins.

St Kilda

Sunset

Its a strange thing to think of penguins living so close to massive city, and in Australia! I was told all I have to do is go down to the pier on st kilda just after sunset and there will be loads of them. So down we went where we waited for about an hour freezing ourselves with about a hundred over people until they finally started to appear.

Penguin hiding in the rock

I LOVE PENGUINS! They are so flipping awesome! (no pun intended!). Just waddling around and jumping over the rocks. These werent the easiest of rocks to negotiate so everytime one fell over there was a collective "Awwww."

I tried my best to get some decent pictures but there was little light and camera flashes are banned. I would have loved to get a video of them but I couldn't.

What you looking at!

Whilst I was walking back to the hostel I spotted Eureka Tower in the distance which has an observation deck at the top which would have been good to go to. Fail Fail Fail!

All these fails is because that was it, that was my Melbourne trip over with. I had one more day to sort my stuff out and then I was off to work on a farm in Bundaberg. I had planned on staying in Melbourne a few weeks to earn some money and see some stuff but I couldn't afford to turn down paid farming work and the chance to get my second year visa so off I went.

I liked Melbourne. I saw lots but did little so I will be returning to do the stuff I missed and if I ever get the chance I would love to come back and see the Melbourne Grand Prix again because that thing is epic! (see next blog!)