Fed Square and Bugattis in the NGV

A quiet day after all the previous GP excitement. Went to Fed Square to see the advanced architecture, a very nice river cruise to the docklands and back where we saw a tram that thought it was a boat.
Highlight of the day was the Bugatti exhibition in the NGV showing three generations of the family's art, sculpture, furniture and cars, fabulous. We are saying goodbye to Robbie and Emily today to begin our journey home via Singapore, watch this space. We have had a wonderful time in OZ, the country's a true ripper!
Last but not least, many thanks to Em and Robbie for a super time, we will be back!

All Buttoned up. Brawn 1-2 at Albert Park

We got to the circuit at about 1pm arriving in time to watch the Super Gas V8s. There was a great buzz during the build up to the actual GP. Very moving was the parade of the fire vehicles and Firies the fire fighters who were involved in the recent terrible Victorian bush fires and which were used as parade vehicles for the F1 drivers. Please note that Jensen personally waved to Angela through the safety fence, not once but three times!
The race itself went exactly to plan for the Brits. Jensen leading from start to finish after a brilliant start and was not troubled by any other driver. The safety car came out when Nakajima went in the wall and Jensen went in to the pits to refuel. Lewis gradually worked his way up the order as other people fell out and finished fourth. Later he was promoted to third after Trulli was penalized for passing Lewis under the safety car regs. Rubens finished second after coming in late to the pits and benefitted from a stupid move by Kubica on Vetel which only succeeded in taking them both off, as my Dad would have said, Kubica to the headmaster’s office tomorrow morning. Later Vetel was penalized rather than Kubica. Massa also made a rare mistake and hit a wall while Heikki retired with a mechanical problem early on. Ferrari fared badly with Kimi also retiring three laps from the end.
All in all, a fantastic day for the Brits, a one-two for a new Brit team and Brit drivers in P1&4 but not so good for our friends in Woking who were obviously struggling in qualifying. Game On in Malaysia next weekend!!

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A fantastic day for British Motorsport, Button on Pole

Motor racing statisticians will enjoy this day! When was the last time that a new or as in this case, rejuvenated, team got two cars on the front row of a GP? Brawn GP is run by Ross Brawn who is one of the premier race engineers in the world and who worked at Ferrari during Michael Schumacher’s time as a driver. We went to the circuit a bit later then other days in order to conserve our energy and watched the GT cars, F1 practice and F1 qualifying. The Williams cars dropped down the order in qualifying and it was Jensen Button and Rubens Barichello who made a fantastic effort and ended up on the front row of the grid with Vettel and Kubica third and fourth. Kimi went off in practice and Lewis had a disastrous start to an already poor beginning to his season with a gearbox failure so he and both the Toyotas are starting from the back of the grid. Game on!

First FI practice and lunch with a black swan in The Park

We arrived at Albert Park in time to watch the Australian GT race, Porsches, Astons etc and later the Australian Cars, tiny replica saloons that scream round and then what we were waiting for, F1 first practice when we saw the new 09 F1 cars for the first time. They are so smooth and quick and it is difficult to tell who is really fast. Photos through the mesh barrier are a challenge. We enjoyed lunch by the lake with a very calm black swan but we didnt feed it. We left before second practice but Williams are very quick with Nico Rosberg being quickest so far with Brawn showing well. The rumour here is that Virgin will sponsor Brawn GP running plain at present but very quick, the diffuser issue being subject to a later appeal.

Australian GP, fun in Albert Park

The GP in Melbourne takes place over four days with a packed programme of races and events running from 10 am till late. There are no gaps in the programme and something is going on all the time. What a joy to go by tram, route 96, to Middle Park and to get off at Gate 1, the whole jouney taking only 40 mins from Emily and Robbies flat in Elwood including a longish walk. We watched Formula Ford and Mini practice as well as the historics demonstration which included the rare and gorgeous Brabham Alfa F1 car. Later we queued up in vain for the driver's autograph in the paddock, see later photos for a shot of Lewis and Heiki. The GP has a very pleasant vibe in a superb location, Albert Park, which is close to the city but self contained so it doesn't disrupt the city too much.
In the evening we drove to Doncaster, a Melbourne suburb to have dinner with some friends we met on the NZ leg of our trip.

The Otway Fly, Twelve apostles and Old Melbourne Gaol

We left the cottage at Lorne to drive along the very scenic Great Ocean Road to visit the Otway Fly which is a steel aerial structure allowing you to walk in the forest canopy. The structure is reason enough to visit and of course the views are fantastic. Along the way Angela excelled again by managing to throw a coin on to the sawn off top of a tree first time, the coin staying there while the rest of us tried several times with no success.
After that we carried on to visit the Twelve Apostles which are highly photogenic limestone sea stacks but the weather was chilly and drab but I hope you enjoy the photo.
Today we visited Melbourne by tram. The city has the biggest tram system in the world with 227km of double track, 27 routes and nearly 500 trams.
The Old Gaol was how to hang someone. The trick is to get the drop length correct so that the neck is broken swiftly and thisfascinating and we learnt the interesting and complex story of Ned Kelly as well as instructions on depends on the culprit’s weight including his clothes.

Great Ocean Road and a real Koala

We drove to Lorne along the Great Ocean Road, a project devised to find work for unemplyed soldiers after WW1. It has fantastic views as you will see from the next batch of photos when we visit the Twelve Apostles, the famous sea stacks, further along the coast from here. Highlight today was definitely the Koala bear we found wandering along the roadside on our way to the Erskine Falls. You will also see a picture of the Cockateels which screech around the site here. We return to Melbourne tomorrow to stay with Em & Robbie and look forward to seeing the GP at the weekend. It is still chilly today but it is sunny and only Robbie briefly swam, Em and I pleading the shallow water for not swimming but we did have our cossies on.

Ayer's Rock(Ularu), King's Canyon and Alice Springs

We left Sydney and flew to Ayers Rock or Uluaru in the middle of Australia in the Red Centre, so called because all the rocks are red. We watched the sunset at Uluru and the sunrise taking lots of photos with my mini tripod as well as doing the fantastic King's Canyon Rim walk where we saw some fantastic rock formations.

We stayed in a resort with posh tents, were taken along bush roads in a cattle station and even saw an aircraft taking off from a bush airstrip with a doctor on board. No snakes this time but we did have dinner under the stars twice in two days so we know about the Southern Cross now.

Emily and Robbie met us at Melbourne airport yesterday and we are now with them in Lorne along the Great Ocean Road. It was 34C yesterday but barely 20C now.