" Its 5 Greens, its Go, Go, Go...."
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2004
1
63
102
Trip End
Ongoing
Melbourne,
Australia
Sunday, March 6, 2005
A basic entry ticket to the race day alone would set you back more than £250! God only knows how much a weekend pass would cost! Not really a family day out!
But that wasn't the case here in Australia. Here the same ticket sets you back a measly $100! (That's £40). Because of this it was hard not to go. Well I doubt I'll ever make it to the British Grand Prix, and i wanted to see what all the fuss was about - well that and to see the Fosters Pit Girls up close
01. Thursday Practice Day - Albert Park
!The actual racing is held just 10 minutes walk from where we were living, in Albert Park. For a couple of weeks each year the park is amazingly transformed into a race track, with hundreds of barriers and viewing stands erected.
Although you still get the tree hugging protesters moaning about all the people ruining the park, it did look outstanding. Plus because it's held on roads that run through the park, it gave us a chance to drive around the circuit a couple of days after the Grand Prix had finished. Not something you get to do everyday!
Because the Grand Prix in Melbourne was celebrating its 10th birthday, they made Thursday's race day (practice events, lorry racing etc.) free to anyone that wanted to come, giving everyone in Melbourne an opportunity to experience the event. I went along to this day really just to find a good position to sit on Sunday, but I bumped into Mike, a Canadian I work with in my bar, so we ended up watching some of the qualifying heats.
One thing that your notice from the photos is that it was a perfect day for racing on Thursday, sunny, with clear blue skies
02. Me and Mike from Canada from work
. It was just a shame the latter couldn't be said about the actual race day on Sunday. It was freezing, cloudy and occasionally rained - typical Melbourne weather!We got up early, hoping to beat the crowds, but it seemed everyone else had the same idea! Luckily Steve and Keith, friends from the Kiwi Experience, had woken up even earlier, so had managed to save the smallest amount of space for us to squeeze onto! We weren't moving for the foreseeable future as you just wouldn't be able to get back to your spot!
As for the main race, well a bit of an anti climax really. The only things that were reasonably enjoyable were seeing Mika Hakinnen stall his car on the grid, shutting up all his Scandinavian fans that wouldn't stop singing in front of us, and of course seeing Michael Schumacher crash out on our corner! Apart from that, there wasn't actually anything else interesting about the race! No one else crashed and the leader led from the start?! Boring!
I can't describe how fast and loud these cars are though, fortunately we had thought of this and brought ear plugs; although this helped with the sound of the cars it didn't help when you tried to talk to each other
03. Stewards in Fire Suits
!I was glad i went there though, but maybe if I'm still here next year I will try and get in one of the corporate tents and see it in real style!
Other things I got up to this month.
· Started to realise that I couldn't really survive on the money I was making at my bar job so joined a graphic design agency called Aquent. Apparently a worldwide agency, they got me very well paid work at a few local companies, ranging from 2 weeks at a small design agency to 2 months at a massive Australian fashion label, designing clothes - more about that in later entries!
· Got offered night work from one of these companies on the sly, doing basic Photoshop work from 6 to 10pm Monday to Thursday. This was strictly hush hush though as the agency wouldn't be happy if they had found out. I was happy though, I was getting paid tax free, cash in hand, and I was working by myself, so I could listen to any music, and surf the net to my hearts content! How do you think I caught up with my travelpods!!
· Discovered the bad news that our good DJ friend Matt Jay had lost his battle against Cancer and had died. Although when saying goodbye to him in Southend I knew it was terminal, it was still hard to believe when I heard the news. Without trying to sound like I'm lecturing, he was only 30 and died from smoking - something all you smokers should think about? He was a good bloke and will be greatly missed.
