Fun at the Formula 1

The Formula 1 Grand Prix race took place around Albert Park in Melbourne, which is just a couple of miles from our place. We got some general admission tickets, Zack scoped out a good viewing spot to set up our chairs and blankets, and several of our friends joined us to enjoy the beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Porsche Carrera Cup

I thought it would be a fun thing to experience just once, and we figured we'd might as well check it out while living here, but we actually both really enjoyed it and would think about going again next year. There were all sorts of things going on other than the car races: carnival rides, display cars, motorcycle daredevils, sailboats and jet ski tricksters in the water, and flyovers by stunt planes, a Qantas jumbo jet, and military aircraft. The pictures below show just a little bit of what we saw.

There were other car races throughout the day, but the main event was the Formula 1 race at 5pm. The Formula 1 series is held in various cities around the world, but the one in Australia is the first of the year. Drivers who place earn points toward winning the eventual World Championship. At the Australian Grand Prix, the race is 58 laps long, which takes about 1 1/2 hours. It's a total of 191 miles, and the cars sometimes go as fast as 220 miles per hour. And wow, they are SO loud! We definitely had to wear earplugs. This year's winner was Jenson Button. He drives for McLaren, and he's won this race twice before.

We walked down to Turn 10 to get a good view of the cars maneuvering around a sharp curve.

Close up of a Red Bull car.

Below is a video of me standing by an opening in the fence near where we were sitting. Enjoy!

Driving Us Crazy

Thank goodness for signs like this-we Americans need them!  Driving is definitely the most difficult and scariest thing we've encountered in Australia so far.  Trying to find our way around an unknown country is hard enough (Zack and I used to get lost just in Denver!), but it's infinitely more freaky when you're trying to remember to stay on the left side of the road when every fiber of your being wants to pull over to the right.  Then you have to make a right turn-ack!  I've only dared to get in the driver's seat once-when all I had to do was go straight down the Great Ocean Road-no turns.  Thankfully, Zack is willing to "give it a go" and I play navigator (not a very good one though).

Needless to say, we've had a few tense moments and frighteningly close calls.  The worst was actually on foot.  We were walking around in the CBD last week and trying to catch a tram that was going to pull away soon.  Darting down the sidewalk, Zack stepped into the road, looked to the LEFT, and got honked at by a car coming from the right while I shrieked "ZAAAAAAAACK" in horror.  He stepped back onto the curb just in time for a car in the lane closest to the sidewalk to zoom by without so much as a pause.  My brother Justin and his wife Cindy have a bet as to how soon it will be before Zack ends up in the emergency room, as we've spent plenty of time there within our few years of marriage.  They think it will be two months.  He almost didn't make it to two weeks!  But all is well, and we've resorted to looking BOTH ways TWICE before crossing anything around here.  

Ford Territory

Toyota Kluger

Hyundai Getz

There seem to be some of the same cars in this country; they are just known by different names.  We see a lot of BMWs around too, but I have no idea how people afford those.  At this point, we don't plan on buying a car.  With the discount Zack can get through Avis, it seems to make more sense to rent a car on the weekends when we need it.  The public transportation options are plentiful and easy; they just don't go to the ocean for surfing!

These are a few of the fun signs we've seen so far.  One is out by the pier in St. Kilda-maybe the bridge gets slippery when it's wet?  The other was along the Great Ocean Road drive; I'm still waiting to see a real kangaroo in the wild!  Anyway, it's raining/hailing right now and cold outside, so I'm glad I'm not out there driving and instead am curled up in my housecoat catching up on e-mails and reading a good book.  This is the life!