Melbourne and Aussie Grand Prix
A morning flight from Sydney airport meant we joined the commuters who were taking the Manly ferry to downtown Sydney. That journey simply has to be the best commute in the world, the Victoria Line to Kings Cross just doesn't compare! A few months back, Alex, a friend of mine and my brother, saw on Facebook that we had bought tickets to the Melbourne Grand Prix and kindly invited us to stay.
Staying at Alex's plush pad in the trendy part of town really made our visit to Melbourne so much fun. Firstly he met us from the airport in his new Mini Cooper S (getting the backpacks in was a bit of a squeeze though), dropped us at the flat, lent me an iPhone 4 (already loaded with credit), and told us exactly how to get down to Albert Park so we could catch some of the Friday afternoon action.
Albert Park in many ways is similar to Silverstone, particularly so as they have general admission tickets and not just grandstand only. This meant attending the Australian Grand Prix was much more affordable than the Brazilian GP and we could freely roam around the circuit. The facilities are absolutely fantastic - probably the best portaloos I've ever used - with loads of additional entertainment from mini Porsches for kids to historic car collections. We walked round the entire circuit looking for the best vantage point as we knew on race day we would need to find a spot early and stick to it. The Albert Park circuit loops around a lake and they even allow spectators to cross over to the inside of the circuit. Our first glimpse of the 2012 F1 cars came at FP2. The clouds had rolled in but I put my new camera lens to the test and managed to get some good shots at the slow turn 3.
That evening, Alex and his flatmate Larna took us to a fantastic Mexican restaurant on Chapel Street. Anyone who has visited Melbourne will know that Chapel Street is the place to go for good food, entertainment and posh shops. This part of Melbourne has a really cool vibe, I'm sure this is true throughout Melbourne but we did tend to spend most of our evenings on Chapel Street.
Saturday = qualifying. After a leisurely start to the day - F1 action starts late so it can be shown in the morning for European audiences - and a good fix of gadgets playing with Alex's iPad, iPhone and MacBook Air (yes, I am a sucker for Apple products), we took the tram down to Albert Park. We took up station on the bank of turns 9 and 10, the weather was fine and the anticipation mounting. The power of Facebook was evident again in facilitating a reunion with an old uni' friend. A mutual friend knew that Pants (his nickname) had recently moved to Melbourne and suggested on my Facebook page that we hook up, as it turned out Pants was also going to the Grand Prix so came down and met us to watch the qualifying. We had a great afternoon catching up over beers and were ecstatic when McLaren locked out the front row of the grid for the first time since Button joined the team. We had high hopes for a McLaren win on Sunday - if you hadn't guessed we are huge fans of McLaren.
Race day! I left Nilgun and Alex at the flat and strolled down to the circuit to secure our spot at the same turn as yesterday - we had seen some good action in qualifying including the legendary Schumacher spinning out. Despite getting there only 30 minutes after the gates opened the banking was already packed. But I managed to find a spot and, in a rather German abroad style, I spread out some beach towels and sarongs to secure as much space as possible; both Alex and Pants were bringing more friends down. Two of those friends were more old uni' friends, Karen and Dev. It really was a University of Nottingham reunion in Melbourne! Both Karen and Dev, like Pants, had moved to Melbourne and it was great catching up with them. The race didn't start until 5pm but we had plenty on track entertainment and the deliciously cold Aussie beers were going down nicely.
Our vantage point was pretty good for action (Vettel's excellent overtake of Rosberg) but also we had a jumbo TV screen opposite and the P.A. was just about audible. As Alex had kindly lent me his iPhone I bought the official F1 timing app and was giving the rest of the guys updates on tyre choices and sector times. It was no Martin Brundle commentary, but helped. The understanding of the race and strategy when watching on TV is much better than when spectating but the atmosphere at Albert Park was electric. There was huge support for British drivers as well as the Aussies. We were nervous that Vettel might jump Button at the restart after the safety car but our boy demonstrated to last year's champion that he is not the only one who can pull out a two second lead within two laps.
Button's win, with Hamilton also on the podium, was the perfect end to a fantastic day. We continued to celebrate into the evening getting cheers from any fellow McLaren fans passing by.
Alex had taken the Monday off work so that we could drive the Great Ocean Road and get to the Twelve Apostles. We left Nilgun behind for a boys day out and on the way stopped for a lovely lunch looking out over the ocean at Torquay, then continued our road trip stopping for photos at famous Bell's Beach and Apollo Bay. I did a stint of the driving, which was great fun in Alex's tuned Cooper S. It's a great road to drive but the Aussies are super hot on speeding so you are forever watching the speedo. En route we passed through a controlled bush fire. It was quite odd as the bush both sides of the road was either on fire or smouldering for quite a few kilometres as we drove through. Finally we reached the Twelve Apostles shortly before sunset, bagging some nice photos. Postcard photos done, it was nice just marvelling at the natural beauty of this coastline.
Our brief but action packed visit to Australia had now come to an end. It was short but definitely very sweet. Big thanks to our hosts Ollie, Hannah and Alex and hi to all the friends we made (or caught up with). We hope to see you again soon.
