I went to the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne this weekend. It was quite an experience.

The sound. The noise is pretty incredible and probably the most indescribable experience of the race. It’s loud, but powerful and actually pretty entertaining to hear. With redlines of ~18k RPM, they rev a lot higher (~3x) than your average car, which means their exhaust is more of a song than virtually any car. This high revving passes almost every other vehicle, my motorcycle redlines at ~13.5k, and the Trans Am at 5.5k, as mentioned the pitch is quite exhilarating.

The actual F1 race is around an hour and a half, but the festivities are a day long event (really, 4 days if you go to the other races and practices and timing sessions). This means that there are several races throughout the day and lots of other cars to see in the meantime. The other cars to see were as much a lesson in history as the current F1, there were cars from throughout racing history which was certainly impressive.

The Grand Prix takes place on roads that are shut down around Albert Park lake. I hadn’t visited here before, but it’s a quick tram ride and a pretty nice area. The panorama below captures it nicely, think I’m a sucker for palm trees.

The GT race was exciting because it was road cars racing, this means high end Ferrari’s and Lambo’s fighting Porsche 911’s, a stray Corvette or two, and several others. It’s refreshing to see high end exotics doing what they were made to be doing. There was also a Mini Challenge where Mini Coopers, which appeared to be mostly stock, were raced. Unfortunately, I think this race was one of the other days or before I arrived, but certainly would have been interesting. There was also a V8 race of cars that I didn’t get a great chance to identify, but was also exciting.

Unfortunately, the race ended under safety car, after 3rd place went for a pass with just several laps left resulting in 2nd and 3rd wiping out. Jenson Button racing in a Brawn car had been wiping up the field all day though and coasted to a relatively easily victory. Somehow, Lewis Hamilton, reigning world champion, after starting in the rear managed his way to 4th place by the time all was said and done. Richard Branson who just endorsed the Brawn team has had incredibly good fortune as they landed him a 1-2 finish. I believe he was quoted as saying something to the effect of “I’m the luckiest man alive.”

It was a great experience. I don’t think it would become my new favorite hobby, but I’m really glad that I went. Now if I got to drive, it might be a different story…

Sydney. The eternal rival of Melbourne. This led my visit last weekend to involve a number of comparisons as to which was actually better. At the end of the day, or weekend really, I prefer to live in Melbourne. I tried to take an unbiased opinion but it’s quite difficult and I’m sure compelling arguments could be made for either side.

The beaches and coastline are fantastic. Coogee and Bondi beach are both half hour bus rides from the city center. The ~6.5km walk between these two reveals some of Sydney’s most impressive scenery. Beaches flow into cliffs, the clear blue water shimmering below, and the clear blue sky above collide into a setting that’s truly spectacular.

Manly Beach is a half hour ferry ride from the city and a great way to spend a day. Manly is a small beach town that knows its audience, there are cheap beach shops and lots of restaurants. The beach itself is full of life: surfers, or surfers to be, volleyball, boogie boarding, swimming, and generally heaps of people soaking in the sun. The only real complaint would perhaps be a slight overcrowding, who can resist the perfect weather on the weekend?

The city is a bit larger than Melbourne. I believe Sydney is between 4 and 4.5 million while Melbourne is between 3.5 and 4. However, Sydney is much more of a hassle to get around. Melbourne has great public transportation with a relatively cheap train and widely covering tram system. Sydney relies heavily on buses which seem perpetually stuck in traffic.

The social life is surprisingly different, Sydney has a feel much more of a major metropolis. Sydney tends to be dressed up when Melbourne seems casual. It’s difficult to describe the feeling of the city (well, the brief feeling that I got) in a phrase, but it seemed more of a generic large city but definitely had some cool and unique features.

The Sydney Opera House, the most well known building in Australia, definitely sets the waterfront apart. It’s swooping sails are enchanting, and the building alone gives the sense that you’re in a different world.

The Royal Botanical gardens are a stone throw away from the opera house and create an impressively tranquil environment. While the city noise lies just a few blocks away, strolling through the gardens is quite relaxing. The craziest thing about the gardens however is the large number of bats that live in them. I tried to capture this in the picture below with the tree, there are bats that hang from trees across the park in the middle of the day. While famous, they are the noisiest things in the park and something of an eyesore, if you ask me.

The aquarium was impressive. Yes, I found Nemo. The best part was having the exhibits where you walked through tubes in the shark tank and the corral reef tank. Be sure to check out the warning sign below. Australia is famous for its wildlife and perhaps there is no better exhibit of that than the aquarium, though the zoo would be a good balance. It’s a great time to walk among the sea creatures, it’s absolutely amazing to think about the amount of variation under the sea. Underwater life is often grouped into several small groups, such as fish, sharks, sting rays, but it is much more complex, comparable, I imagine, to life on land.