It had all the makings of a perfect Australia Day celebration: a free BBQ, free entertainment, celebs about the place for photos and autographs, 5 radio stations setup for their own outside broadcast (OB), and a major network television breakfast program broadcasting live with performances and the general business of the show. All it needed was some sun and lots of people – and it got lots of both.

My entire family went in, arriving at Suncorp Stadium at 5am local time to see the crowd slowly building, to see rehearsals and to enjoy the festivities. Lots of good people to talk with – always great to see Andrew Lofthouse and Melissa Downes and chat with them, as well as a bunch of behind the scenes people like Rob McKnight, Christine Neate & Adam Waldock all working hard & doing a great job. It was a slick operation that only really missed lots of free cold water – there was cold milk available from one of the sponsors, however no chilled water and the non-chilled stuff was in short supply very quickly. More shade would have been nice too – but that would have been tough to provide.

I managed to get some good behind the scenes footage and pictures – Enjoy!