Sunday Grand prix and Monday back to NZ

Woke at 7.00 and showered. Text from Kirsty to say lots of traffic on the way to the airport, their flight was before ours. Arrived at the airport and had to go and get petrol and not make the mistake of going back on the freeway! Melbourne airport is manic made worse by so many people leaving after the Grand Prix. Checked in but as so many Gold members I could not go in the lounge, only Jon as he is the member so we just waited in the public area and had some fruit for breakfast. Really good flight as it was a 777 so big plane. Good food, too. I watched Black Swan and Tangled, two good films. Arrived on time and went across to Domestic Departures and into the lounge and had a cup of tea and a cake and waited for our flight. Arrived in Tauranga at 8.00 and Heather was there with James and Kirsty and we went home and had fish and chips as it was too late to cook anything else. Poor Heather has been turfed out of her room and is not very happy about it but she has known she would be for a long time. I am sure she will be fine in a couple of days. WEATHER Cloudy in Melbourne. Sunny and warm in NZ 22 degrees Sunday A good breakfast across the road at the Southern Cross Mall. James so excited so we had to get a move on and get on a tram and get to Albert Park and we arrived in time for gates opening. Lots to do at the park with side shows and entertainment. Some amazing guys on motor bikes jumping from ramps and flying through the air and at times letting go of the bikes and then grabbing them again, very scary. Also motor bikes going round in a ball and they got up to four bikes at one time. We had a walk around the lake and across the very wobbly bridge that is built from plastic blocks just for the day. We had a nice coffee and were given a voucher for L'Oreal. We queued up for a while and Jon was given a facial and gift pack which was worth a lot of money so well worth the wait. The noise of the cars was amazing. Jon bought some head phones which have a radio in them and had it not been for them we would not have known what was going on in the race as you could not hear the commentary. There was, amongst many, a Spanish food stall and I had a very nice paella for lunch. Fortunately the sun was now out and it was warm at last. We then went back to seats after walking all the away around. It was now very hot in the stand. The umbrella I took for the rain came in very useful to keep us shaded from the sun, much to Kirsty's disgust!! I did start a trend though.Went to sit in shade for 30 minutes then much cooler. Grand Prix pretty boring as I didn't know what was going on but I enjoyed it. Walked along the track after the race and the headed for the gate. Big queue for tram back but it didn't really take that long and we were dropped right by our hotel. Quick change then out for dinner to the Italian which was very good. Early to bed very tired and need to pack. WEATHER Started very overcast and cool then very hot and sunny