Day 79: This ain't no Mario Kart

It seems like forever ago that I packed up my bags and moved to Melbourne with promises of wonderful employment ringing in my ears. Despite the fact that those promises turned out to be false, I stuck around Melbourne because of my awesome apartment and managed to salvage the situation to a certain degree. I had a comfortable existence with food, entertainment, and at least one decent house mate. I soon forgot why I came to Melbourne in the first place, so you can imagine my surprise when the Melbourne Grand Prix rolled around, and I was contacted as a potential worker by the company that brought me to Melbourne in the first place. Not being one to turn down money and free entertainment, I reported for duty on the first day of the Melbourne Grand Prix.

I've never spent any time in the southern United States, or followed NASCAR at all, but if there are any similarities to the Formula 1 Grand Prix, then count me out. Even without the huge redneck stigma racing carries in the states, the Australian racing scene is much of the same: a very repetitive "sport" made more interesting by copious consumption of beer. The festival that surrounds the event, however, was at least mildly entertaining. The highlights:

1. Entertaining crashes: I happened to be standing around doing nothing during one of the more interesting moments of the weekend. One of several side-event races had just begun, consisting of luxury sports cars turned in to speed machines, when one of the drivers had to swerve to avoid a stalled car. He went off the road, smashed in to the wall and rebounded back on to the track directly into the middle of the pack of cars beginning the race. Nothing cures boredom like a literal 20 car pile-up of BMW's, Ferrari's, and Vipers.

2. Kangaroo Men: The festival surrounding the Grand Prix bares some resemblance to Seafair, including the bizarrely dressed performers, and without a doubt the most eye-catching of these performers were two men dressed as kangaroos, complete with spring loaded stilts. The stilts were disguised by enormous fake furry legs and feet, part of an ensemble that included tan body suits, furry kangaroo abs, a giant furry tale, and giant furry kangaroo balls... Thats right. The costumes were so detailed that they even included detachable furry balls.

I ran to get my camera as soon as I saw them, completely abandoning my work, but was crushed when I returned to find that they had moved on. Without a doubt, the most disappointing moment of the weekend.