Oprah has just completed taking 302 of her fans on a ten day tour of Australia. It was organised by Tourism Australia and the itinerary included visits to 25 specially selected Australian tourism destinations, each location was selected to showcase the very best of what Australia had to offer the tourist. These included visits to five of Australia’s eight states and territories at locations like Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru in the Red Centre, the Wine regions of Australia, the Great Ocean Road and a Bridge Climb in Sydney Harbour.

On 14th September 2010, Oprah announced to a specially invited audience to the Oprah Winfrey Show that she was taking them on a vacation of a lifetime – to Australia. Amid gasps, hugs, screams and tears the reaction was near hysteria. The 300 member audience danced in the aisles as the back of the stage opened to reveal a model Qantas jet airliner. Out stepped the Hollywood actor and Qantas pilot, John Travolta.

The fans flew to Australia in two Qantas 747 aircraft and landed in Sydney on December 7th. They were welcomed by Australian fans and Tourism Australia staff. After arriving at their hotel they were given details of their Australian tours. The group would be broken up to travel to different locations, each escorted by a tour guide from Tourism Australia.

Oprah arrived in her private jet, landing in Cairns International Airport on the 8th December. She started her tour with an overnight stay on one of the most spectacular islands in the Great Barrier Reef. The following day she flew in her jet to Uluru which is a huge rock located at the very centre of Australia. It is the ceremonial home of many of Australia’s indigenous peoples. A day later she flew on to Melbourne and the following day to Sydney to be reunited with her audience members.

The highlight of the tour was the filming of two shows in the forecourt of the iconic Sydney Opera House. Oprah had brought a complete production crew of 150 support staff to produce and film these events. Each event was filmed in from of an audience of 6,000 Australian fans. These had been selected by ballot from 350,000 applications. In January 2011, these shows will be beamed world-wide to Oprah’s fans in some 145 countries.

Her plans had been 12 months in the making as she wanted to ensure that this was a show to top all shows. It was to be the culmination of 25 years as a show host for the Oprah Winfrey Show. It was to exceed the very best of her already legendary shows. That’s a tall order.

Her itinerary was a closely guarded secret and the Australian media were kept guessing as to where she was and what she was doing in Australia. Oprah gained the title of the “Queen of Surprise”.

This account of Oprah’s visit to Australia is written by an Australian travel writer who is familiar with the destinations that Oprah and her audience members visited. It will appeal to Oprah fans, worldwide.

This preview edition provides the background to her visit. It is available as an $2.99 eBook from Amazon’s Kindle store or as a multi-format presentation (including PDF) format from Smashwords.com.

Author Bio: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/35920 http://www.amazon.com/Oprah-Down-Under-ebook/dp/B004HYHJ8G/

Category: Entertainment
Keywords: Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, TV host, Oprah Down Under