Several weeks ago I asked many of you to help me get free tickets to the Oprah show for when she was going to be here in Australia. Well, none of us won tickets but 12,000 out of 350,000 people who attempted did so at least we tried! I appreciated your efforts!!!
Oprah has been here for the past 10 days, but she has been the talk on every news channel and in every newspaper for weeks and now especially since she arrived with her 300 guests and 150 staff and crew. We have been fortunate enough to be in this place where we have had a great view to witness many of the things they did while they were here. From our apartment I could see the big “O” that was lit up on the side of the Harbour Bridge, the major fireworks show after a welcome party at the Botanical Gardens, and all of the sailboats with “Oprah” on the sails covering the Sydney Harbour. The Opera House even has been called the “Oprah” House the whole time!
Luke thought I was weird for trying to follow what her schedule was each day but I really wanted to know! The odds are pretty crazy that she would be here the same time that we have just moved here and in a location within walking distance from us! Come on!!!! Her guests were ALL over Australia and already experienced so many things that I am looking forward to someday soon. We got little updates each day of where they had visited but I'm looking forward to seeing the shows in January when they air. Which probably means March or even later when they air here.
On Monday night there were pleas not to come down to the Opera House while the tapings were happening the next morning because they would be blocking off so much of the area. I was a little discouraged hearing this but knew I had to at least try to be as close to the action as possible. As you'll see in the pictures, the whole show was set up outside of the Opera House on the steps and surrounding areas. Actually right where we finished our Santa race a few weeks ago! :)
Tuesday morning the first taping was 8:00 a.m.- noon. I found out on the news that they had released an extra 300 tickets that morning and were allowing additional seating off to the side. I was down there in a flash and in line by 2:30pm. The next taping was 3:00-7pm. I stood there wishing I had just gone at 6:30 a.m. like I thought I should have!! J I stood in line for a very long time with a bunch of other people and watched as the line grew and grew and grew behind us. We finally got let in!!! I thought we were going to get to stand along the side right by the stage but they moved us on around to the other side of the Opera House where we could watch everything from a large screen. They had everything set up with bathrooms, drinking stations, food, ice cream, and drinks for sale, and really made it a great area! I was still very ok with this because the view was great and we were still there for it all! I had a spot up front and was able to take many pictures and make friends with the ladies next to me.
After the show the security’s main priority was telling us to keep moving, stop taking pictures, and basically to just get out! Everyone lined up next to the barricades up the road waiting for Oprah and all of her famous guests to drive by. I made sure to keep my front row spot as they kept pushing us up the road. There was a second barricade behind us where there was another mob of people who didn’t get in for the show. I was feeling pretty good about now!
As the cars started driving by, everyone would scream and wave and then groan a little because it still wasn’t Oprah. I had made a big yellow sign that said, “Oprah, please do a show on Childhood Cancer! Our kids need your help!” There is currently a major campaign going to get her to do this that started in Shawnee, KS! Let me know if you want more information about it and want to help, too!!!! J
I decided this was my chance to make sure Oprah at least saw the sign. Gail King drove by with her camera out the window so she could video all of us standing there. Score! She should have the sign on film! I held up my sign for each car so who knows if it was producers, Olivia Newton John, or another famous person, but hopefully they all got a good glimpse! Then when Oprah finally came by I was struggling to get my camera ready to video while holding my sign. I apologize for the awful video footage but be patient and if you wait, Oprah really does drive right by me! ;)
It was a very fun day of “wooing,” clapping, and yelling with excitement with a bunch of Aussie’s who wanted to ask me a million questions because I was American. Of course, I then felt free to ask them a million questions! I was sad to not have my closest family and friends there to experience it all with me but overall it was still a great day and I had a really fun time!
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