F1 Fun, and Canberra...

---

I've just sat down to write another long overdue entry to my travel log, and noticed a cockroach out of the corner of my eye. The little beggar ran underneath the table top and is probably thinking about running up my short leg. So excuse me if i'm a little distracted and the words don't make much sense. I wondered why this internet cafe was so cheap...

It's nearly a month since my last entry and in that time I worked a week with the blokes from Taiyo. Fortunately they had some other guys down from Cairns and they weren't nearly as obnoxious as the last guys I worked with. The job was taking down the big marquee in Sydney Domain, where they staged summer concerts for Tom Jones and the like. Again it was hard work, and mainly consisted of lifting, shifting, sweeping, more lifting and other stuff that seemed like a massive waste of time. Still, on the wednesday night the crew involved with taking down the stage and sound system had a little "end of the job" party on site. There were two lorry's absolutely crammed with beer, wine and other beverages that I assumed were left over from the summer festivals. I also assumed that these beverages would be making their way back to the supplier, but some how, a few dozen cartons managed to fall off the back of these wagons and found their way to the site managers office. Fortunately for us, the staging crew were more than happy to share their gains, and so we took full advantage of the beer on offer.

The following week I started work at a company called Monarch. They manufacture roller doors and shutters for various clients. I spent two weeks there working with a fella called Tommo on a job for Hong Kong airport. It involved fabricating sheet aluminium to make the runners for the doors. It was quite interesting for me to be doing stuff and using tools I haven't used since I was an apprentice at Fleetlands. It was good for Tommo too as he told me most of the casual blokes they get are backpackers that are next to useless and usually turn up drunk. He was quite happy to have an aircraft engineer work for him for two weeks. He was also an interesting bloke who told me various stories, like when the last bush fire hit the town of waterfall and threatened to burn down the entire town. All the residents were evacuated, except for Tommo and a few others who refused to leave. Between them they managed to save his street from the fire which would have perished otherwise.

So after my two weeks there, it was time to get the bus to Melbourne for the first Grand Prix of the season. I travelled down overnight arriving on the Friday morning. Afer checking in at McMahon's I went straight to the Albert park circuit for the practice session. For me, the noise from an F1 car never fails to excite, and as I stepped off the tram outside the circuit I had goosepimples. The session was already underway, and with the circuit being so close to the city, the sound carried all the way through the streets of Melbourne. It is an excellent setting for a Grand Prix.

Not long after getting there, it was plainly obvious who the favourite was. Every country in the world has their share of Ferrari fans and Australia is no different. They are like the Manchester United of Formula 1. But apart from the usual red flag waving tossers, there were an unbelievable amount of Williams fans - all rooting for their new hero, Aussie Mark Webber. It was quite sickening to see all this support for the "local boy done good" as he was being touted in the papers. More so because you don't see that kind of support for the williams team at the British GP, and also because Aussies had never heard of Mark Webber when he was driving for Minardi or Jaguar! The fans are so fickle i tell's ya... So I marched off to the merchandising tent and parted with 50 bucks for a Jenson Button cap (it was only 70 bucks for a high quality Williams jacket!)

Melbourne is notorious for its "four seasons in one day" weather, and on the Friday i caught sunburn on my nose... again! Doesn't matter how many hats I wear or how much suncream I use, I always catch the sun on my nose. (Insert your own joke here!) Sure enough on Saturday the rain fell out of the sky and it was blowing a hoolie. Then ten minutes later the sun would come out again. I didn't know whether to reach for the suncream or put a rain coat on as I, along with 100,000 others sizzled and got drenched at the same time. It made for an interesting qualifying session though as Schumacher trailed in second to last having to tippy-toe around in the wet. Webber ended up fifth or some where, much to the delight of the aussie crowd. Having been to watch the cricket at the MCG, I'm starting to realise that you're average Aussie sports fan lacks imagination - thus the universal chant of aussie, aussie, aussie, oi, oi, oi! Be it cricket, rugby, tennis or Formula 1. They think it's hilarious and seem to believe it is a chant they invented, despite the many brits I saw shaking their heads and reminiscing of boy scout days.

The weather held out for race day and I headed down there pretty early, though the sheer number of fans meant that viewing was restricted anyway. To my disappointment the tannoy system was lacking and it was difficult to follow the race. (note to self, next time take a radio!) The atmosphere was great though, and not one chant of aussie, aussie, aussie... The folk downunder do have one thing right though, and credit where credit's due - V8 supercars! I thought that Touring cars looked like fun but V8's are incredible. Running as a support race to F1, they are basically the same cars that you find on Australian roads, albeit there are only two makes: Ford and Holden. Both manufacturers race their version of their road car for promotion purposes, and both run a dirty 5.7 litre V8 engine. The road cars are great to see, they even do a ute version, but on the track they are fast, loud, spit flames out the exhaust through every corner, and are fantastic fun to watch race. If only they could run them in the U.K, but then not many people at home can afford to run a gas guzzling V8 with an average 12miles per gallon!

So after my high octane jaunt to Melbourne it was time to return to Sydney. I figured that as the bus went through Canberra on the way back, I might as well check the place out. What I didn't expect was to have to pay extra for it. Melbourne to Sydney (via Canberra) is $57, where as Melbourne - Canberra is $62, and Canberra - Sydney $31. An extra $33 for the privilage? And believe me, it really wasn't much of a privilage! The first day I spent looking round the National War Memorial, which is actually really good. It's a large memorial dedicated to the unknown Australian soldier, and along Anzac parade which leads up to it are many other memorials dedicated to all the men and women who served in all the conflicts Australia and New Zealand have been involved in. There is also a museum which runs free guided tours, and is one of the better ones i've ever been to, with loads of tanks, planes, guns and even the japanese X-type submarine captured in Sydney harbour in WWII all on display.

The hostel I stayed in was pretty quiet, but I was determined to have a decent night out in Canberra. First stop was the hostel bar which was empty, so I headed off to King O'Malley's Irish bar. Every town in Oz has one, Sydney has about 5. And they are all called the same. PJ O'briens seems to be the Irish Bar name of choice, with one in Sydney, one in Melbourne, and I think Adelaide and Perth had one each. Being one of the larger pubs in town I expected O'Malley's to be a hub of entertainment. I ordered my pint of Stella then took a seat. I was a solitary figure at the bar for the duration of that pint, and for the pint of Kilkenny that followed. After that I decided some real entertainment was in order so I headed off to the cinema to catch Constantine...

My second and last day in Canberra was spent at the House of Parliament on Capital Hill. It took me an hour to walk there, five minutes inside to decide to turn around and walk back. I spent the rest of the afternoon in O'Malley's wondering why I spent that extra $33 going there in the first place. The thing is with Canberra, is it was designed as a Capital city from the word go when the people of Australia couldn't decide on Sydney or Melbourne as their nation's capital. It was designed by an American which goes a long way to explaining all the uniform avenues, and concentric ring roads. It has this "plastic town" feel to it, and the majority of its citizens are government workers. I later found out that Canberra has the highest suicide rate among youths anywhere in Australia. There simply is naff all to do there unless you like going on picnics...

Ah well, I'm back "home" now in Sydney and I plan to do some more snorkelling before I head off to the home of country music - Tamworth, and then a bit of horse riding in Bingara. Sounds like more fun than dowdy government buildings.

---