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Published: June 15th 2008
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Day 350 (11.3.08) to Day 354 (15.03.08)
Work continued without much excitement this week as we all felt a bit drained following our busy and fun-packed weekend.
We went dancing again on Tuesday and continued with the 40s Charlston style that we’d begun the week before - we’ll be pro level in no time! On Wednesday night Tiana and Ash came over for dinner as there was no basketball match this week so we needed another excuse to get together!
Drinks on a Friday afternoon often help us make it through the week so we stopped for a couple but decided not to make it a big night as we had exciting plans for Sunday and wanted to save our pennies for that. This weekend would see Melbourne playing host to the Formula 1 Grand Prix and since the tickets were cheaper than we’d ever be able to get at home and the race would take place in Albert Park, about 30 minutes walk from our apartment; we thought it would just be rude not to go! We’d been watching with growing excitement over the past few weeks as the stands, fencing, corporate boxes etc. went up and
it was great to know that we’d be able to go along and be part of the Formula 1 fever on Sunday.
On Saturday we did some housework and then settled down to watch the qualifying for the next day’s race. The weirdest thing was that we could actually hear the roar of the engines from the flat whilst we were watching it all on TV! Mark popped down to get us some tickets and managed to get us concession rates with our YHA cards. This made our tickets just $68 (around ₤29.50) - a complete bargain. Rob and Bevan were going to join us at the race so they came over to stay on Saturday night so we could all head down together the next day. We had a great lasagne dinner and a little goon to pass the night away.
Day 355 (16.3.08)
We made an early-ish start as we wanted to try and get a good spot to watch the race from. We caught the tram up the St Kilda road and made our way into the park. We set up our chairs on the mound by turns 9 and 10. We thought this
would give us the chance to see a bit of action in the bends and also the speed as the cars raced away on a straighter section of track.
The weather was absolutely roasting with the temperature apparently rising to around 42 degrees later that day but we braved the heat and kept on slapping on the sun lotion and thankfully none of us got burnt. We took it in turns to visit the F1 Experience tents to see what was going on and then settled in to watch the various support races, including the V8 supercars, which were all hugely entertaining. The programme was packed and we had no time to get bored as we waited for the main event. The programme was packed and we had no time to get bored as we waited for the main event. In between races the sky was filled with displays from the navy squirrel helicopters, the RAAF roulettes (equivalent to the red arrows) and two F/A-18 Jets.
Our excitement was growing as we watched the drivers tour round on their parade lap and then right before the race began we had a fantastic flyover from a Qantas jet. They’d
really pulled out all the stops.
As the race started and the sound of the F1 engines filled the air the crowd waited to see how drivers and cars would perform in the first race of the season. We watched enthralled for the next 100 minutes or so as the thrills and spills of the race saw only a handful drivers completing the 58 lap race with Lewis Hamilton leading the way to the chequered flag. It was absolutely fantastic!
After the race finished we made our way over to the huge music stage to be entertained by the highly eccentric KISS. The grounds were still packed as everyone stayed to make the most of their tickets. The band was great and we rocked it with all our remaining energy! We walked back to the flat feeling totally exhausted but having had an excellent day - we’d been so lucky to have it all happen on our doorstep.
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