Nnnnyyyeeeeooooowwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!

Phew!

Big. Day!

We stayed at some friends' place last night close to the city, so that this morning, at crack of dawn, we headed to the south Perth foreshore to set up for the Red Bull Air Race 2006 event - as the final leg of the race being held in Perth - Hooray!!
(the title of this post is the sound the planes make zooming past!)

I'm absolutely knackered from sitting in the sun ALL DAY and all the packing car, unpacking car, carrying gear to foreshore, putting up marquee, setting up eskiees, chairs, fighting crowds, queuing in hot sun for porta-potty, bustling through PACKED crowds of people, packing bog up, taking marguee down, rolling up swag, taking gear back to car, unpacking when home.... gaaaaahhhhhh... Must.. need.. couch...

Plus there's the mild sun stroke =\



So I'm not keen to type for yonks about how awesome it was - I wants me couch, I wants me aloe vera and I wants me big honking bottle of water! But it truly was awe-some in the literal meaning of the word, so I wanted to post a few pics from the Official webpage, and a link to the qualifying movie they've got up. The Finals movie is up too, but I think the qualifying one shows off the race skills a bit better, and also shots of Perth and even some of Rottnest, our little Rotto island off the Perth coast. So here's that link - Seriously, it is worth the download, totally worth a look!! THe other videos are available through that link too so check out the variety of visuals :)

Basically dudes in these awesome little planes have to run a Formula One in the air obstacle course of zooming around over the river at 300km per hour, diving and slalomming through inflatable pylons - mental mental CRAZY good fun to watch!Despite all of the hot and tiring things above, it was a brilliant day :) My fantasteric Dad and lovely Pa (Dad's dad) came down too and joined us there on the waterfromt to watch the show. I can't begin to describe how packed it was though, which made it somewhat tricky! Shveetie and I set up at about 6:30 am, race didn't start til 12, pre-race stuff started at 10:30/11. So we got a good spot, but it didn't count for much by the time it all started and the place was swarming with people!! Luckily we'd set up the swag RIGHT at the edge of the shore so we had a spot with practically noone in front of us - but no shade unfortunately. If you're a foreinger and planning to come to Oz please PLEASE wear multiple sorts of sun protection and take it seriously. As you can see in the photos it was a pretty cloudy day, but I have fair skin so I came prepared - thick ghostly white layering of suncream, re-applied frequently, giant (and I mean GIANT- traditional sort of novelty hat giant) sombrero, PLUS spending the first part of the day under the marquee's forgiving shade AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! So truly, cover up, that goes for the rest of you Aussies too *grin* Learn from my mistake! I love LOVE spending time with Dad, so it was fantastic to hang out with him and watch the acrobatic planes acrobaterising. Add to that the bonus of having Pa come along!! Magic! Pa has done some extensive plane flying which I'm always interested in, so it was an excellent opportunity to hear his point of view and info on the planes zooming about us :) Yay!
phew, Okay, I'm well and truly ready to relax now!

oooh one last thing, In the llooong stretches of time until the racing started, and inbetween events, and afterwards when we were "winding down" at those friends' place with the crew, I knitted like the winf! The WIND I tell you! I did some sock work, scarf work on shveetie's scarf (until I got to the next black bit and didn't have the black with me!) and knit the entire purple square for a ommunal project I'm contributing a square to. That one was particularly high on my list as I have to mail it off to the US soon.

Right! Bludge time! heheh
A thankyou to lovely shveetie, Dad and Pa for the fun day :) xoxo