..........is just where I am at this moment in time. Here we are on Canterbury Road, Melbourne. Right next door to Albert Park, home of the Australian Grand Prix. It's Wednesday evening, twenty to seven and we are less than a kilometre away from what sounds like first run for the f1 cars. And what a noise it is, 18,000 rpm of pure engineering genius. The whole trip so far has been such a catalogue of new experiences that my first-ever GP has, until now, yet to register as the milestone in my life it should have done. Crazy isn't it that I've chosen to travel as far as possible to finally go and see one!
Notwithstanding my current state of euphoria, today has been eventful to say the very least......i was woken at one this morning by Wayne's phone, thinking that the alarm had come round rather more quickly than I really wanted it to. This turned out to be Wayne's hairdresser, calling her for... Well, I don't know what. She turned it off in disgust and we went back to sleep. We were up again at half seven to get ready for our flight to Melbourne. Rebecca very kindly came and picked us up and then proceeded to scare the living sh*t out of us on the way with her creative driving.... I've never seen Jez so animated, mind you he did have a Toyota Land Cruiser about two inches from his left ear....
I also had my first taste of air travel which wasn't steerage - Philip wangled us into the Virgin Australia lounge where we enjoyed decent breakfast and a leisurely wait for our flight to be called. I'm worrying less and less about flying every time I have to do it, which I never thought would happen...... Our flight left a little late while Philip took the opportunity to give us a guided tour of the very runways on which he worked some twenty years ago, whilst working for Qantas; he tells us that the runways are largely on reclaimed land stretching into Botany Bay; and not necessarily entirely built of concrete....... there may apparently be one or two underworld figures in there for good measure. All very entertaining and a nice lead in to the take off which took in our second aerial view of Sydney Harbour, this time the sun-soaked version...
However, the landing at Melbourne was entertaining for less pleasant reasons..... As we wobbled in to land I though the plane was pitching about a bit too much for my liking..... just as we were about to hit the ground, or land, depending on your viewpoint, the driver gave it the berries and we took to the air again. Hmmmm. Maybe I'm not as comfortable with this flying business as I thought I was after all. Anyway another circuit round, and we land much more comfortably. The driver explained that turbulent air from the last landing hampered our final approach. We later hear that we were considerably closer to one side of the runway than we really ought to have been and might have ended up on the grass, had he not have had second thoughts about landing......
After all the drama we collect our luggage and meet up with Fairy Claire who had left a snowy London yesterday to join us in Melbourne. We taxi it across from the Airport and arrive at 325 Canterbury Road. Delightful is not the word....... Beautifully presented two-bedroom house full of designer this, that and the other, and, save the tramlines, backing directly on to Albert Park. And just for good measure - half a mile from the beach! Top marks to Philip for conjuring this one out of the world wide interweb!
We drop off our bags and stroll down to St Kilda proper. This can only be described as a warm, sunny Worthing or maybe a Bognor Regis. And, for once, I'm not joking. It has the feel of the English seaside circa when I was a kid in the early seventies. And certainly more prosperous and appealing than their present-day counterpart. Looking forward to exploring this area little more, if possible, although the GP gives us quite a tight schedule for the next few days. We have a hearty lunch, call in a few shops and stock up on provisions, especially in the bottle shop, for the next few days. And that just about brings us up to date I think, sun is setting on day four. We have an early start tomorrow as part of our GP ticket which gives us breakfast and a pitlane walk. Cheesy will be in pig heaven to be so close to the four wheeled missiles that have enthralled hm since his early childhood. Hard to believe that Mr Schumacher's reign all but stopped my interest in this amazing spectacle. I won't call it a sport, as so many deny this to be so, and it cannot be argued that money has been both the making and the breaking of F1 in so many people's eyes as a sport. It cannot however be denied that the technology is mindbending and I now cannot wait to see it be played out, in full, before my very eyes. Bring it on!
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