Olivia & Friends Concert Sydney 30.09.2008

 

Olivia & Friends Concert Sydney 30.09.2008

22nd of September 2008 - leaving home to pick up Heike at Frankfurt for a 20 days trip to down under including Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Sydney and Brisbane.

First highlight for me was my first flight with an Airbus A380 (Singapore Airlines) from Singapore to Sydney. What an amazing aircraft. Though only travelling in the economy class it was much more comfortable and most notably much more quiet than flying with e.g. a Boeing 747-400 (as we did from Frankfurt to Singapore).  

Arriving at Singapore Changi airport I - as a collector of Hard Rock Cafe visits and city pins - was surprised by a new opened Hard Rock Cafe in the terminal.

On 24th of September at 9:55 am - two days after leaving home, after travelling 20000 km and staying more than 20 hours on board of different planes - we finally reached the heart of Australia, Alice Springs. 

 

A small town in the middle of nowhere, but with an excellent Desert Park, where you can "discover the secrets of the desert" - including a lot of really colorful birds and kangaroos. In fact the first living kangaroos we saw in Australia - just finding a lot of dead kangaroos besides the roads before.

Next highlights - only 450 km away from Alice Springs: Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (Olgas)

 

Amazing change of the rock colors from sunrise to sunset. 

   

 

By the way, we had a lot of fun with our Nissan Patrol on asphalt roads, on unsealed sand roads in the outback and on the beach

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop: Sydney!

The main reason for this journey was of course the Olivia & Friends concert in Sydney. Getting the confirmation (thank you Louise:-) that we were allowed to join the party with the artists after the show was the determing factor for us to go on this long long journey!

 

   

 

Preparations for the concert at the State Theatre, 49 Market Street, Sydney:

 

 

      

  

  

The entrance of the State Theatre - "guarded" by a very nice (and very British) Door Captain:

First half of the concert. Olivia and John sitting just one row in front and three seats right from us. So we got the opportunity to say hello (Olivia told me "I recognize you" - maybe it's true;-) and to get a first autograph. 

  

The concert was moderated by Richard Wilkins, presenting a lot of famous artists - including Vanessa Amorosi, Christine Anu, Carl Barron, Daryl Braithwaite, Kate Ceberano, Trisha Crowe, Chantelle Delaney, Diesel, Tim Freedman, Mark Gable, Corinne Grant, Todd McKenney, Ian Moss, Paulini, James Reyne, Carl Riseley, Melinda Schneider, Guy Sebastian and Axle Whitehead.

At the beginning of the interval Olivia left the auditorium and we all hoped that we will see her again on stage during the second half - and we did:-) Olivia closed the second half with:

Let Me Be There (duet with Chantelle Delaney)

Summer Nights (duet with Guy Sebastian)
Tenterfield Saddler (duet with Todd McKenney)

Pearls On A Chain
Courageous (duet with Melinda Schneider)
I Honestly Love You


A very special performance - a unique moment I guess!? And a brilliant finale with Olivia, John, the artists and a lot of Great Walk supporters on the stage!
You can find some concert photos here! (BTW - Angeline, if you ever read this, please contact me by mail)

After the show (approx. 10:30 pm) we went to the Post Show Party in the lobby of the State Theatre. 

A lot of the artists joined the party, it was very crowded. 

 

Olivia and John also joined the party for a short time

But then they adjourned to a privat room on the upper level to meet some choiced guests - and us:-) 

 

 

 

We were able to speak with Olivia sitting on the red sofa, to congratulate Olivia on her birthday, to hand some flowers and a letter on to Olivia and we got some more autographs (pictures taken in Berlin, December 2007)

This was an overwhelming moment - so sad, that we do not have any photos;-)

Besides that we could talk to John, to some people from the management and the found raising organization.

We left the theatre approx. at 1:30 am:-) What a night:-) 

 

Part Two including Sydney (e.g. Downtown, Opera, Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, Manly)

and East Coast (Brisbane to Sydney, e.g. Gaia) will follow :-)

 

So taking the strains really was worthwhile! Marvellous days in Australia!

Best regards from Germany

Peter

P.S.: Heike - thank you for sharing this time in such a pleasant and uncomplicated way:-) Let's do it again!