Going the distance...

Monday 28th March 2011

I've never run a marathon, though I have once cycled the equivalent distance. It is common knowledge that when running a marathon, or similar long distances, you often reach a certain point where you hit a brick wall, believing you can continue no longer, but once you persevere through that barrier, you find yourself on the other side, and able to make it to the finishing line. That pretty much describes my last 10 days. Arriving in Perth, I had no energy, and almost no will to continue my travels. Admittedly, I did have time to rest up thanks to my great couchsurf host Selby, who didn't really mind me just chilling out in her flat, as if it was my own. Now I find myself in Melbourne, and it's fast turning into one of my favourite cities. My four days in Belgrave, up in the Dandenong Ranges, were brilliant, both for the surroundings I was staying in, and my two amazing couchsurf hosts, Rhys & Penny, who from the moment I entered their home felt like lifelong friends that I just hadn't seen in a long time. Nearly six months of couchsurfing, and it continues to amaze me with its array of amazing and fascinating people. From there, I travelled further into Melbourne to Glenferrie, where my next host would be. Within an hour of arriving at Rachel's house I was at a local community event designed as a chance for local neighbours to meet up, where they were cooking up jacket potatoes in a brazier (I didn't know either, it's like a little BBQ/basket for holding hot coals, not a woman's undergarment). I also met Rachel's parents and various neighbours and by 10pm was having the most in depth conversation with her dad about my family, its routes, my life, and it didn't seem quite real that I'd only arrived a few hours earlier that evening. On Saturday I had arranged to meet Colin, an old school friend who now lives in Melbourne. I've seen him twice in the past 10 years or so, one for a burger and pint in Hammersmith, and then again in 2007 when we bumped into each other at Glastonbury. Other than that I haven't really seen him since school, when we used to spend a lot of time together and he was one of my closest friends at the time. We spent the whole of Saturday drinking in downtown Melbourne, met his girlfriend, grabbed some dinner in China town and generally continued like it was 1998 in Hendon. Only it was 2011 in Melbourne. When Colin told me he lived about 200 metres from Albert Park and would be going to the Grand Prix I couldn't turn down the opportunity to join him. I booked my ticket online and was all set for a Sunday afternoon in the park. In the morning I went round for a late breakfast at Colin's flat and then set off the park. The F1 race wasn't set to start until 5pm but there was plenty going on before hand with other races, and it was pretty much set out like a music festival with bars and music and lots and lots and lots of cars dotted around the course, ranging from old classics to modern racers. Strangely, the most memorable part of the day came when we went into a bar that had a range of live snakes on show, for anyone to touch or hold. They were all pythons, and at first I held just a smaller one, but on sight of the huge monster snake, I had to pick him up! He was big, and weighed a ton, but it was pretty cool having him wrapped around me, just being all snaky, and slithery, and, well, not slimy at all. Anyway, snakes aside, the Grand Prix was quite an experience. The volume of the F1 cars was phenomenal, and required the wearing of earplugs whilst the race was one. It's one thing watching it on the telly, but when you're track side and you actually see the cars passing at ridiculous speeds, and the air has a strange smell of oil and fuel, it's quite something. Once the race is over you can actually walk up and down the track (which takes place on the roads that are within the park anyway), and walking past the pit lane we could see the BBC team doing their post race analysis that I've watched so many times on telly. Basically, Jake Humphrey looks about 12. David Coulthard has the most chiseled chin of all time. And Eddie Jordan is tiny. By the end of the day, despite not doing much other than walking around and drinking a beer (or two) and watching fast cars, I was knackered, so made my way back to Glenferrie. Today I have been finalising my travel plans for the next 2 weeks, and enjoying the relaxed coffee shop culture of Melbourne (by sitting in coffee shops). On Thursday I go to Tasmania for a few days in search of the Tasmanian Devil, and next week I will visit Sydney before returning to Perth for the weekend of April 10th. "Returning to Perth?" I hear you ask. Yes, I'm returning to Perth. All will become clear...