It’s 6.30am Melbourne time, and I’m about 10 minutes coming from coming into land. The journey started 23 hours ago at London Heathrow.
8pm. The Uk’s capital was pretty cold and miserable with rain, but sitting in a lounge, somewhere in our biggest airport, was David Baddiel, that actor from ‘outnumbered’, some strange people who looked like they were going to oz for work, and Russell Watson and myself. You could say we were the strange people going for work, but really, if this is work its also the most fun you can have in a job. One hour later and we are on a lovely new A380 on route to Dubai. The biggest question – “how do you while away the hours?” The answer of course, drink in the onboard bar. Yes. An onboard little private bar. And then of course, fall asleep.
Cut to 6 hours later, and upon landing, I get very confused. It’s supposedly 8am and 20 degrees. Time to sit and twiddle thumbs in another lounge until the next flight to MEL.
Dubai to Melbourne. This is the long one. 12 hours. The solution to while the hours; have a little tipple and sleep.
And now it’s 10am in Melbourne, 25 degrees, and I’m going to chill for a couple of hours at the pool before I do some ‘work’.
Next day:
After Melbourne, we moved to Sydney. A two hour flight to one if the coolest cities on earth. Hotel room overlooking the opera house and harbor; lovely!
Walking out on Sydney Opera House stage is one of the most amazing feelings as a performer I’ve ever had. As a 28 year old conductor from Birmingham, I felt incredibly luck to be performing there, and to be performing there with Russell. The concert was stunning, emotional, and most importantly, a lot of fun.
After this, and a little helicopter detour to Alan Jones’ farm for lunch, we then caught our next five hour flight to Perth.
Upon arrival, we were greeted with 35 degrees and a really, really nice theatre. This gig, although difficult compared to the normal smooth running, was still a success and ended the tour in a lovely environment.
After a 7 hour relax next day by the pool, it was time to start the 24 hour door-to-door journey back home. It’s a bloody long way; but worth it!
February 22nd, 2012