Am verlängerten WE vom ANZAC day (AustralianNewZealandArmyCorps), das ist ein Gedenktag an die Gefallenen aus den Kriegen, waren wir mal wieder im Margaret River Weingebiet.
Wir haben unser Campingzeug gepackt und sind auf zum wild campen, was immer ein Spaß ist in Australien, mit Lagerfeuer und Co. Wein haben wir in der Weingegend selbstverständlich auch getestet und uns die Stadt Margaret River direkt angeschaut. -mk
135,000 people showed up today for the race and still the area down near the improvised air strip was almost empty. However, the other areas they were stacked 10 deep. Go figure.
Australian Matt Hall came second in the race. In between races there were a few shows like a Qantas flyover, an old school jet fighter of some sort making flybys and doing tricks, the RAAF precision flying team, and a few other plane related shows. The weather was perfect and the Vietnamese dinner afterwards capped off a great day. Yum! -jp
Am Sonntag war ich dann schließlich auch mit auf dem Red Bull Air Race, bei wunderschönem Wetter mit meinem lieben Verlobten und einem italienischen Freund. Schaut euch einfach die Fotos an und freut euch daran. -mk
Monique had to work today so I went into town and watched the qualifications for the air races. There were a ton of people along the riverfront right near where the train station and the ferry terminal is, but the crowd thinned out the further down the river you went. In fact, if you went all the way down to Langley Park where the temporary airfield was set up, it was almost empty despite being the best place to stand on the north side of the river. I guess most people have a general aversion to walking.
After watching for awhile I figured out what most people probably already know: these pilots are nuts. -jp
The Red Bull Air Race has returned to Perth after skipping a year and the day before the race they’ve started practicing. I’ve actually been looking forward to this for quite some time and when the weather was bad at the beginning of the week I was worried they’d cancel it. And then yesterday a guy crashed during testing. But things are looking up. The weather is clearing and the guy who crashed is fine.
I was able to see the warm-ups from out my window at work. That was pretty distracting -jp
Red Bull’s Perth website.
They're racing to the bar
While we were in the Outback last year, one of the things that I wanted to do was go drinking at a feral Outback bar with the local ranchers and truckers and whoever else. Needless to say, Monique didn’t want any part of that. I didn’t want to go by myself so it didn’t happen. But fast forward to Easter 2010 and the Quindanning Picnic Races. We drove out to where the bush ends and the Outback begins to a little boonies town that has an Easter tradition of getting all of the locals together in a field next to a horse racetrack and getting them smashed. There were a couple of bands and an endless amount of relatively cheap booze as well as plenty of drunk hicks. They called us “city people.” I thought that was funny.
Apparently, there was some horse racing. Or at least that’s what my camera tells me.
On the way home we hid Easter baskets but my head hurt. -jp
An Ostern hat es uns nach Quidanning verschlagen. Einem kleinen Städtchen irgendwo im nirgendwo zwischen australischem Busch und Outback. Warum wir da waren? Ja, eine gute Freundin von uns, von Beruf Tierärztin hatte Bereitschaft auf der Pferderennbahn des Örtchens. So kam es, das die “Stadtmenschen”, wie sie uns nannten auf’s Land hinaus sind und ein bisschen den Pferden gelauscht und mit den Ansässigen getrunken haben. Es war nett! Ja wirklich! Nicht wirklich viel Pferderennen – leider, aber trotzdem witzig mit dem ein oder anderen aus der Gegend zu quatschen und zu sehen, wie verbunden doch die Australier zu Natur und Tier sind!
Und auf dem Weg nach Hause haben wir in Pinjarra angehalten und im Park unsere Ostereier gesucht.
Anbei noch ein paar Impressionen in der Fotosgalerie. -mk
Quindanning is way out here.
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