Racing out of Melbourne

(NOTE: The detailed race blog post that you F1 fans have been waiting for is currently in the works by our sports reporter and will be posted shortly.)

Saturday morning we headed up to the Queen Victoria Market where you can buy all manner of things from fresh vegetables to knockoff designer labels to live ducks, quails and other feathered friends.  We met up with Elena (who arrived Friday night) and her friend Nadia (who she meet here in Dunedin at her knitting club) for brunch and then let Nadia return to her studies while we headed back to Albert Park for an afternoon of qualifying.

On Saturday, there is one more practice session for the drivers and then the all-exciting qualifying session.  Because we are Elena's advance team, Todd and I had wandered around on Friday looking for spots for Elena to watch the race.  She had a general admission ticket which allowed her to sit anywhere around the entire track except in the assigned grandstands.  Despite having our own grandstand seats for Saturday, Todd wanted to sit with Elena for the Saturday practice session.  He said he remembered how awesome it was seeing F1 cars roar by for the first time and wanted to watch Elena's reaction.  For me, it was hilarious to watch both of their reactions.

 

Looking at all the features of Todd's fancy Fanvision TV gadget thing

Todd & Elena wandering over the pontoon bridge mid-course

 

Obviously, they both thoroughly enjoyed the practice session.  In the two hours in between practice and qualifying (do the drivers need naps?), these two intrepid fans walked around the entire course looking as possible places for Elena to sit during practice and the race while yours truly went to my assigned grandstand seat and happily read a book on my Kindle.  I'm 100% sure that everyone around me was thinking "You are a huge dork."  Having left Elena somewhere around turn 12, Todd joined me in the grandstands for qualifying and yes, I put my Kindle down to watch.  I was thrilled to report that the biracial boy wonder Lewis Hamilton qualify in second place.  Again, details and stats on the drama of qualifying will be coming in our sports reporter's post.

Because Todd is a wise, wise husband, we spent Sunday morning visiting two Melbourne markets, Finders Keepers and the famous St. Kilda Market.  Finders Keepers is a very cool market that only happens quarterly in Melbourne, so we were really lucky to be there.  Its goal is to support "emerging designers, artists & musicians and bringing new contemporary design to the forefront in Australia," and it was awesome.  There were so many cool artists, and I easily could have dropped a gazillion dollars there.  I picked up a print about tea time from Bespoke Letterpress Boutique.

From there, we hopped on a bus and popped down to The Esplanade Market at St. Kilda Beach.  Here we bought a photo print by Mark Laricchia of some of Melbourne's amazing graffiti.  If you click on his name, you'll see the print we got right on his homepage.  It's the one on the right with the wheelie bins and milk crates.

 The sun had FINALLY come out, and it was absolutely awesome to be in short sleeves soaking up the rays for the first time during our entire trip.  It only lasted a few hours, but I thoroughly enjoyed it while it lasted.  From St. Kilda, it was just a quick bus ride to Albert Park where we headed directly to our race seats.  THEY WERE IN THE FRONT ROW right on the main straight/starting grid.  I love seats like this, because it makes it much easier for me to pay attention when the stuff is happening right in front of my face.  :)

We had primo seats to watch the driver's parade and pre-race organized chaos that happens.  We were also looking at the grandstands where the rich and famous could watch, but the only person I recognized was one of the judges from MasterChef Australia, Matt Preston. He's huge - I spotted him without the binoculars.

Lewis going past in the driver's parade

That's Michael Shumacher in the ski mask with his back to us

Grid girls are a key attraction to the F1 audience

Quantas fly over...what you have to do when you don't have F18s

Earplugs are a must during any F1 activity, and we had been wearing them all weekend, but when all 24 cars start in front of you at the same time, your brain might explode.  Luckily, that only lasts a few seconds before they all go screaming away.  Here's a video of the start and what it was like to watch from our seats.  Don't worry - it's short, not too loud, and they shoot around so fast that you can barely tell which car is which unless you are Todd Humora or Elena Barrantes...or a fan, I guess.

The start of the race...so exciting!

And this is how fast the cars go by...watch out for whiplash.

Cars on the starting grid

My biracial boy wonder Lewis came in second due in part to Elena and my support of him with our new Lewis t-shirts. All in all, it was definitely a fun time, a fun race, a fun weekend, and a fun trip.  And Todd was very very happy which was the icing on the cake.

Todd on the race track after the race