Another day at the South Australian Swimming Championships??

And, in a flash, it was all over......

Despite a 6:30 am start (on a Sunday so you can imagine the foot stamping that took place before we even left) our day at the Grand Prix went sooooo fast, we almost missed it.

Another solid breakfast and we were on our way to get there early for our pit straight walk.  Wasn't too worried about dong this but I went along anyway, and was surprised at how good it was.  We took loads of photos including some idiot who thought it would be funny to sit on the P1 spot, eight hours before Seb Vettel took his place there.  Shame aforementioned idiot was grinning so much he forgot to look down to turn one and see just what it wold really be like to head up a F1 grid.....

We were ushered away from the pit and on to the infield where we saw both Christian Horner, Red Bull Head Honcho, Helmut Marko, the Red Bull team owner, and also Checho Perez, McLaren's new recruit. And then it rained and blew a gale...... We hid under the pit straight bridge for a good twenty minutes where those in our party in shorts half froze to death. Not, for once, the idiot sitting on the grid I hasten to add.....

We watch a few events including the fly-pasts and the final celebrity challenge won once again by some Aussie cricketer type with Chris Hoy coming in second.  We dodged the v8s and the super cars but enjoyed the incredibly loud 70s and 80s Le Mans and Can-Am sports cars. And then to the final race of the week, the Grand Prix itself. We wait with bated breath for a juicy turn one melee in which we expect to see several million quid's worth of F1 cars in a pile before us.  Not so much as a clipped wing as the entire field filed past and on for 200 miles of high-speed action.  Maldonado gave us some consolation as he slid into our gravel trap and beached his Williams, but by and large the race was conducted impeccably with some stout passing and a lot more pit stops than expected.

Eventual winner was Kimi Raikkonnen, which was something of a surprise.  Neither Alonso nor Vettel looked happy despite their podium places.  Hamilton went steadily as did both Force Indias and Webber choked yet again at his home Grand Prix.  JB was disappointing but at least made up a place on his grid spot.  The weather held, just, and we all left the circuit in good spirits.  Fairy and the idiot from earlier tried to pinch the forlorn, lonely Paul di Resta placard from the drivers' parade, and made as good a job of that as they had of filling the water bottle from a golf course sprinkler tap the day before.  I close with nothing but praise for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and how they run their event, and the people, who have looked after us, guided us, fed us, herded us and entertained us over the past for days..... the very best.

So, here we are in our last night in Melbourne, with some considerable regrets that we have not seen more of this lovely city. Tonight we have discussed differences between here and Sydney and the differences are tangible. Melbourne is better, I think, for being a city with an older character.  I hope one day I can come back and spend more time here.

Tomorrow we are off on our camper van odyssey...... we have some sort of plan, the only fixed points being the fact that we need to find three more places to stay overnight.  The trip is about 600 miles and we really don't know what to expect. The next blog will be on the road and, I suspect, will be far more interesting than previous meanderings..........

Ps thanks to the cheery Jones Stand Steward for providing today's title!