Nyyyyyoowwwwwwww!

Finally this week, I have confirmed tickets to the Aussie Formula 1 next March! Happily in the Senna stand on the final corner with views of the home straight, and opposite the pit crews, I even have tickets for the GP Advantage. For those who are interested, that’ll include a pit walk, a chance to meet drivers, and access to loads of exclusive places over the four days. And, to top it off, Mark Webber could well be the reigning champion by then: Vettel might have the qualifying pace, but Webber has the race experience. A quick glance at wikipedia also tells me that the last three races have been won by English drivers, so it should be a cracking race.

With the start of the English football season, the unveiling of Football Manager 2011, the F1 tickets booked, and the start of the Australian football season, I am fully in the sporting mood. Sadly, the local weather isn’t, and the past week has been a blur of clouds, fog and rain, with only the occasional hint of sun breaking through. Nevermind though, next Friday I’m hoping to get involved with the Lunchtime Socceroos, the universities official casual football team, open to anyone. I can show everyone how to play the English way.

The only other incident of note this week was the International evening at a local bar, where I got another chance to meet the ANU students going to Sheffield, as well as a few people heading to Nottingham and Leeds. There are loads of people going to Maastricht as well, they really seem to have a big exchange programme. I’ve also discovered that only English people get to spend a full year at another university, everyone else only has a semester.

Since I haven’t got up to much since the last post, I’ll tell you a bit more about the National Capital Exhibition and the National Museum of Australia, something I promised to do in my second post.

The wander down to the National Capital Exhibition (NCE from now on) isn’t that amazing, I had to go roadside for most of the way, but the final stretch is nice. RG Menzies walk borders Lake Burley Griffin, and would have provided a stunning view of the Captain Cook Jet had it been on – it was temporarily off due to strong winds. Nevertheless, I wandered right around the Captain Cook Globe (see second post for a pic of the globe), which was marked with his Coat of Arms (click for explanation).

It then meanders into something of a nature reserve, while still offering great views of the governmental buildings on the other side of the lake. Inside the centre is a detailed history of Canberra, from it’s village roots, to it’s eventual selection as the capital city, and the subsequent design by Walter Griffin of his idyllic city. The pinnacle is an impressive 3-D map onto which is projected a video pointing out the key design features, while someone explains how it was built.

Mostly, I discovered that Walter Griffin loved geometry, and really wanted the Parliamentary Triangle of City, Russell, and Parliament House in the centre, as well as being able to see up across Anzac Parade, all of which have remained clear enough to see from point to point.

The Australian National Museum (ANM) is much more interesting, and full of characters. As soon as we went in, the guy on the front desk called us over, and told us the best displays we should see, and in what order, beginning with an impressive interactive 3-D video ran by a very enthusiastic Aussie. From there, we wandered up to a 360° cinema which rotates to tell the story of very early Australia up to now, then drops you out in a totally different area of the museum telling you about Australia from the early 20th century – from settling civilisations, preserving the local wildlife, the almost comical rabbit problem, right up to what can be expected in the future. The top floor was full of everything else, from Captain Cook’s early ventures, to the live performances of Rolf Harris, and his original wobble-board!

On the way out, the cheery chap from the first exhibit tried his very best to convince us that he was the great-nephew of Baden-Powell, while his co-worker was Zimbabwean royalty. I’m unconvinced, but you can decide for youself, his surname was Khumalo. I’ll mark them down as telling a different story to every tourist.

And finally, in the spirit of Formula 1, here is Mark Webber going out in spectacular fashion at Valencia earlier this year.