02/11: Red Bull Air Race - Perth, Australia
I was stuck in Perth for the weekend, my last in Western Australia, but the summer was kickin in and the city was alive with action and determined to show me a good time after all. Since now i was actually willing to hang out for it, all my previous visits in and out of Perth had been too focused on getting in or getting out. I struck a deal on Tuesday with the 2 German lads that bought the Starwagon to deliver the goods on saturday, a compromise since i wanted the van til monday and they wanted it immediately, barely able to control their smiles seeing their new vacation dream machine travel van sitting right in front of them. So i decided to get a room in a backpackers and submit myself to the city for my 3 last nights in Perth.
I spent the last nights in the van in a most memorable spot, the south mole at Fremantle. The south and north moles are the rock pile jetties that create the Fremantle Port and the mouth of the great Swan River. The south mole extends a good kilometer out into the sea and is paved all the way to the end for road traffic, mostly tourists and fishermen. There are flush toilet facilities and a limited amount of drive by traffic that make it an ideal spot for free-camping, but best of all, the ranger looks past the illegality because it is a spot that is low profile in its proximity to the residential areas of Freo. A tip i received from a ranger when parked in my prior favorite free-camping spot of South Beach in Fremantle which is lined by a park and adjacent to a residential street with a view right onto the parking lot.
On Friday morning, my second morning on the mole, i was waking up with a cup of coffee and a bowl of mueslix when i heard a low flying airplane. I opened the door to the van to see a Red Bull Air Race competitor practicing runs through a set of practice gates set up on the north mole. It was the day before the qualifying race over the Swan River in downtown Perth, but right in front of my porch, they had set up, what was for me an essentially private acrobatics show. It was awesome. It got me really excited for the plans my friend Becca and i were making to spend all of the day on sunday at the Red Bull Air Race, arriving early on the day of the finals to claim a good spot on the river's edge for all the aerial displays in the breaks between the action of the races.
And get a good spot is exactly what we did. We met at the entrance to the park with all the goodies, an eski (ice box), sodas, snacks, and bacon and eggs for the BBQ breakfast sandwiches in the park. We had to walk about 3km from the point of drop, the closest spot to which Becca's Uncle John could reasonably driver before dropping her off with all the food. When we arrived, each with one hand on the esky swinging between us, we were tuckered and hungry. We spread out our claim of blankets at the edge of the wall and headed to the BBQ. In Australia there are plate barbeques with gas burners under them which start with the push of a button, totally public, totally free, and totally tasty when topped with strips of bacon and fryin' eggs. We toasted some bread and made brekky sandos that were to die for.
It was an amazing, sunny, beautiful day and we spent it lounging, snacking, applying and reapplying sunscreen, and watching some amazing displays of aerial ability. There was the air race planes which were amazing, doing up to 370km on entry into the course, they had to shoot through gates just meters off the water. They had old planes doing dignified fly-bys, there was a Qantas 357 did 3 passes, a simulated dog fight, and the cream was the F-18 fighter jet that nearly blew our ears off as it approached the sound barrier with a grande finale exit of pulling up directly over our heads and speeding off into the sky until after a few seconds it disappeared into the great blue void.
I spent the last nights in the van in a most memorable spot, the south mole at Fremantle. The south and north moles are the rock pile jetties that create the Fremantle Port and the mouth of the great Swan River. The south mole extends a good kilometer out into the sea and is paved all the way to the end for road traffic, mostly tourists and fishermen. There are flush toilet facilities and a limited amount of drive by traffic that make it an ideal spot for free-camping, but best of all, the ranger looks past the illegality because it is a spot that is low profile in its proximity to the residential areas of Freo. A tip i received from a ranger when parked in my prior favorite free-camping spot of South Beach in Fremantle which is lined by a park and adjacent to a residential street with a view right onto the parking lot.
On Friday morning, my second morning on the mole, i was waking up with a cup of coffee and a bowl of mueslix when i heard a low flying airplane. I opened the door to the van to see a Red Bull Air Race competitor practicing runs through a set of practice gates set up on the north mole. It was the day before the qualifying race over the Swan River in downtown Perth, but right in front of my porch, they had set up, what was for me an essentially private acrobatics show. It was awesome. It got me really excited for the plans my friend Becca and i were making to spend all of the day on sunday at the Red Bull Air Race, arriving early on the day of the finals to claim a good spot on the river's edge for all the aerial displays in the breaks between the action of the races.
And get a good spot is exactly what we did. We met at the entrance to the park with all the goodies, an eski (ice box), sodas, snacks, and bacon and eggs for the BBQ breakfast sandwiches in the park. We had to walk about 3km from the point of drop, the closest spot to which Becca's Uncle John could reasonably driver before dropping her off with all the food. When we arrived, each with one hand on the esky swinging between us, we were tuckered and hungry. We spread out our claim of blankets at the edge of the wall and headed to the BBQ. In Australia there are plate barbeques with gas burners under them which start with the push of a button, totally public, totally free, and totally tasty when topped with strips of bacon and fryin' eggs. We toasted some bread and made brekky sandos that were to die for.
It was an amazing, sunny, beautiful day and we spent it lounging, snacking, applying and reapplying sunscreen, and watching some amazing displays of aerial ability. There was the air race planes which were amazing, doing up to 370km on entry into the course, they had to shoot through gates just meters off the water. They had old planes doing dignified fly-bys, there was a Qantas 357 did 3 passes, a simulated dog fight, and the cream was the F-18 fighter jet that nearly blew our ears off as it approached the sound barrier with a grande finale exit of pulling up directly over our heads and speeding off into the sky until after a few seconds it disappeared into the great blue void.
