Samuel's Blog

New Day Australia Christmas Function

October 20th, 2005 at 04:19pm

Yeesh, anybody would think John Kerr and his radio show “New Day Australia” were sponsoring me with the amount of times I’ve mentioned them lately. Today is no different, and it could last for a while…why? I hear you ask, could it be that Samuel is trying to boost the New Day Australia ratings or get more radio stations to take John Kerr’s show? Well, no, it isn’t any of the above. The reason that you will probably hear more about John Kerr over the next few weeks or so is that I have just confirmed my booking on John Kerr’s Christmas Function on Sydney Harbour.

The event itself takes place from just before midday until 4pm on Thursday the 1st of December and costs $45. If you ask me, for a four hour function on Sydney Harbour, fully catered etc, this is quite a deal. Obviously travel to and from Sydney is my issue, and after a bit of research I found that Murrays Coaches are offering a $55 day return pass. On closer inspection this isn’t strictly true, because you still have to book a seat on the buses you wish to utilise, and you pay for each seat, but the seats are somewhat discounted when you travel both ways on the same day, and if you are lucky (as I was), you can also get the special deals. In total it is costing me $42.50 to travel to and from Sydney on Murrays Coaches.

I rang All Occasions Cruises on (02) 9809 5499 earlier today and made my booking with them over the phone. If you want to be there too you better hurry as places are limited…I think the number is 150, but I’m not sure. The lady I spoke to at All Occasions was absolutely lovely, it is nice to know that some businesses still understand cutomer service.

I then went to Murrays Coaches website and made my travel booking online with an incredible amount of ease. Of course if you don’t like the Internet for transactions you can always call them on 13 22 51.

So let’s have a look at my itinerary for that day. I have to wake up early, and by early I mean when John Kerr is still on air…he gets off air at 5:30am and if I’m not up by then, well, I’m in trouble.

I need to be at the Jolimont Centre by about 6:30am, I can probably arrive a few minutes later than that, but it is always good to be early for interstate buses.

The bus leaves Civic at 7am or thereabouts, my plan is to take my radio with me and listen to 2CC for as long as possible. When I finally lose the 2CC signal I will listen to one of my tape recordings, which should last about 90 minutes, and then I should be close to, if not in, Sydney, and will be able to pick up 2UE 954. I might quickly switch across to 2GB to find out how Ray Hadley presents his morning show, but I think I’ll stick with 2UE for most of the morning. I should reach Central Station at around 10:30.

In my experience of one visit to Sydney, the bus is in Sydney for close to an hour before it reaches Central Station, when I visited Sydney last it didn’t go past the airport, so it could be in Sydney for a full hour before reaching Central.

At 10:30 I’ll have a cup of coffee before making my way down to the Opera House. This is a familiar journey for me, even though I’ve only done it once. Last time I was in Sydney I forgot to take a photo of Central Station, I won’t be making that mistake again.

I’m expecting to be down at the Opera House by 11:30. I should be there before that, but you never know, the coffee could take longer than usual…

At about 11:45 boarding for the Christmas Function should begin, and then it will be on the boat until about 4pm.

After this it will be time to make my way back to Central Station, which will be followed by another coffee, well, probably, I know I love my coffee, but I might be full after the function…not that I plan to eat more than my fair share or anything…this is one of those sentences I can’t win…

I’ll probably listen to some of Steve Price’s drive show on 2UE while at Central Station, then at about 6pm it will be bus time again, hopefully arriving back in Canberra at 9:15pm.

Naturally I will have the camera with me (you can expect another one of my photographic tour posts in the days after the event), and I will probably take a pad and a pen with me so that I can write my tour post on the go and then type it later.

This is an event I am looking forward to immensely as I have been wanting to meet John Kerr for a long time. I was planning on meeting him at Floriade last year, but I had too much work to do, and then 2UE sent someone else this year, so this is the first chance I’ll get to meet him, and I’m looking forward to it. John Kerr has been very good to me, he even agreed to be interviewed for an assignment I had where I was writing an article on radio automation, he even rang me after I had difficulty getting through to him at the arranged time, John is a lovely man, and his kindness and personability is probably the reason he has hosted New Day Australia for so long. I’m also looking forward to meeting some of the regular callers who I hear so much of.

Now, I’ll just clarify once more that I am NOT sponsored by any of these companies, and I am only recommending them because they were very useful for me.

Samuel

Entry Filed under: Samuel News,TV/Radio/Media

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