F1 oh yeah

One of the great attractions of Melbourne as opposed to other Australian cities perhaps, is that it draws and hosts some truly great international events. For whatever reason, the denizens of Melbourne have made every effort to make Melbourne visible on the world stage - and it shows. The two events that I'm mostly thinking of here are the Australian Open Tennis and the Formula One Grand Prix. This weekend it was Melbourne's turn to play host to the Grand Prix circuit and the usually quiet and peaceful Albert Park was transformed into a high speed, adrenaline pumping formula one circuit. Since we moved to Melbourne in 2006, the formula one has been on my 'to do' list and this year Asia and I went to Friday's practice session along with our friends Mark and Claire.

Melbourne is in the grip of a late Summer/early Autumn heat wave at the moment. As I write it is still 28 degrees C outside, a 'cool' change bringing welcome relief from 38 degrees only an hour before. Friday was also swelteringly hot and by the time the second practice session started at 2pm Asia and Claire had had enough and decided to go home to the air con at Mark and Claire's city apartment. Mark and I managed to brave the heat for another hour or so and managed a few good shots of the cars as they zoomed by at an incredibly noisy 300 kph. Everyone says how you will be amazed by the noise of the F1 cars but you really can't prepare yourself for just how noisy it is. Earplugs are an absolute must as the noise it so loud it does cause physical pain. But hey the cars and the technology are awesome and what a spectacle it was. Despite the heat a great day.