We flew into Melbourne late on
the Friday night and found our rental apartment in the fashionable
neighbourhood of St Kilda.
Saturday 16th dawned
bright and we headed to the circuit in Albert Park. Astute readers will recall that we previously
enjoyed driving around the circuit in the off-season in our rental
campervan! This time, access was
somewhat more limited! But we joined the throngs and enjoyed perusing the
stalls and soaking up the atmosphere.
There was even a flypast with a F/A18
Hornet fighter jet!
The day was made all the more special
by the fact that we got to see family from home! Simon’s brother-in-law, Ken,
works for McLaren in the UK and was tasked, pretty last-minute, with flying halfway
round the world to deliver some badly needed parts to the F1 race team! It was pretty surreal to see him, and I
expect it was the same for him as his body was in a different time zone and
this was his first ever time in Australia! We had a good catch up on the family
gossip and enjoyed some cold drinks in the sunshine. We were jealous of Ken’s ability to access
the pit area with his special connections and sadly he was unable to sneak us
in! But we got an unexpected bonus – access to a special VIP bar thanks to one
of Simon’s work colleagues, which got us right next to the start/finish
straight for qualifying.
We
enjoyed some extra time with Ken that evening, going out for dinner and drinks
in St Kilda before calling it a night to conserve our energy for the big race
day.
Sunday 17th was
another scorcher. The main task for the
day was finding the ideal spot from which to watch the race.
Sebastian Vettel passing us in the drivers' parade |
It
wasn’t the most eventful race, but was an easy win for Bottas! After the race
we remained within the Park as the city was looking stunning in the evening
sunshine (below) and we went for a walk on the track.
Track walk.... |
Not wanting the day to end, we crossed the
road by the entrance and found some live music in a marquee full of other F1
fans. That should read other, very merry
and drunk F1 fans! What else could we do
but join in?! I found myself reminiscing
about drunken nights in Australia many years previously – the musical set-list
doesn’t seem to have changed that much through the decades! We had a great night, letting our hair down
with people we will probably never see again and dancing like no one was watching!
Night out after the race! |
Monday 18th March - We
had to check out of our apartment the next morning, but our flights weren’t
until the early hours of Tuesday! This
gave us the opportunity to meet up with Ken for a lengthy and lovely lunch
before he had to bid us farewell to start his mammoth journey back to the
UK. We had a stroll up the river but it
was such a hot day, with us carrying luggage, that we opted to keep cool in
some bars until it was time the head back to the airport.
That looks like a good place for lunch.... |
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