Saturday 10 May started early. I was woken at 5am with a message from 2 of our friends "We’re here". I went back to bed but didn’t really go back to sleep. The alarm went off at 5.45 and I jumped out of bed, dressed, had breakfast, drove to Hornsby station and waited for the 6.37 train from Newcastle. I was meeting the others upstairs on the last carriage. Faye, Pat, Kay, Fay, Gae, Phyl, Marie, Margaret, Maree, Norma and Robyn had boarded the train at 5.15 am. The train was 20 minutes late.

At 6.58 the train arrived and I boarded the last carriage and went upstairs. There were 11 ladies I mean mad women, all talking and watching a DVD of André. Thanks to Gae who had brought her portable DVD player. There was also one young man who was obviously too lazy to get up and move to another carriage. After welcomes and introductions we tried to settle down for the remainder of the journey to Central. There were many questions asked and some answered. (Maybe I will market a game of André Trivial Pursuit.) I had a card for André and everybody wrote a message. Faye and I told Pat that we had christened her "The Ferret" She was upset at first but we explained that we meant it as a compliment because of her skills in finding out information.

We arrived at Central. There was another message that there were about 20 people in the queue at Ticketek. We decided to go straight to Town Hall and find our place in the line. By the time we arrived at about 8am there were maybe 40 people ahead of us. Our friends Ann and Kate were at the top of the line with about 5 people ahead of them. We were amazed that there were so few people at that hour but it was great for us or so we thought.

We took it in turns to go away and get coffee and breakfast. Ann came down to see us and showed us the banner she had made for André’s visit.

Faye, Pat and I wandered up and down the line talking to people. As we had our André Rieu scarves on we were questioned about where they are available and of course we told them about André’s Boutique. I was also carrying my trusty purple book which has lots of information I have gathered about André.

We managed to meet up with Marcia and her husband Gordon. They had come down from Newcastle the day before for a medical appointment and had stayed in the city overnight. They were standing next to the two little girls in pink who were featured in some of the newspapers. The two girls entertained them by playing their violins.

Faye and I then found Angela (after approaching another woman who had a red coat on and whose name was Angela!). We chatted for a while and then kept returning to our spot in the queue.

While we were waiting we filled in time by taking photos of one another. We chatted to the people from Universal Music who was selling the "Waltzing Matilda" CD and "Gala Concert" and "Love Songs" DVDs as well as their photographer. A few taxis went by with André’s ad on the back of them. Cars, trucks, taxis, buses all went past us wondering what all the fuss was about. Why were all these people standing on the footpath for no apparent reason!!!. There were 3 big screens in the windows of the Ticketek office showing footage of DVDs but no sound. Some passers-by asked us what was going on and when we told them they said "Who?????" They should know who André is by now!!!!

James from Ticketek came up to talk to our group. He has taken over from Alyssia, who is due to have her baby very soon, as the person in charge of André’s visit to Ticketek in Sydney.

I thought it was a good idea to choose a meeting place for after the signing as it gets a bit chaotic trying to keep together. We decided to meet on the other side of the street. Those of us who had seen André at Warringah Mall last year kind of knew what to expect and prepared the novices for how quickly things would happen once we started moving. We were told to have our item for signing ready for André.

The two and a half hours went quite quickly. As 10.30 approached the line seemed up move up a little. By this time our group was in front of one of the big windows. As the front door was around the corner we could only hear a cheer from those ahead of us to herald the arrival of André. We looked up and could see André. He came to our window and gave us a wave and a warm friendly smile. That all happened so quickly that I didn’t get a chance to get my camera ready. We just enjoyed the moment. (Anyway the window had too much reflection.) We could also see Pierre and the minders.

The line started moving soon after. By the time I got to the front of the queue there was some confusion between Ticketek’s security guards and André’s security as to how many people were allowed into the area. André’s people overruled and I was allowed to enter.

As I entered, I was asked to turn off my camera so there are NO PHOTOS. I walked down the left hand side of the office with the big windows on my left and a display of André’s "Love Songs", "Gala Concert" and "Waltzing Matilda" on my right which was about 5 feet high. Over the top of it I could see Pierre and Mirusia having their photos taken. We didn’t expect to see Mirusia. After I passed the big windows there was a display of all André’s DVDs and CDs with a violin and other items. At the end of the aisle was the man himself. André was sitting on a stool in a dimly lit corner of the office. I duly gave my "Waltzing Matilda" booklet to one of the minders who in turn gave it to André to sign. I also gave the card we had written on to another minder. All I could say to André was "Thank you André" as he handed me back my booklet. It was all over. I was directed to the door. André signed everything with a silver pen.

I went straight out and met some of the other girls and then realised that I hadn’t stayed with Faye to buy our tickets to the third Sydney concert. I asked if I could go back in and a lovely Ticketek girl escorted me back to meet up with Faye. No I didn’t see André again. But I did see that by then Mirusia was sitting next to André and signing as well. She looked lovely in her warm coloured floral dress. We were disappointed that we had missed out on having our items signed by Mirusia. Faye and I are now off to the third concert in Sydney on 27 November. We have decided to have the best available $99 tickets so we can get an overall view of the concert.

As we assembled in our appointed area across the road Faye spotted Pierre come out of the building and come across to where we were standing. He took some photos of the queue. Pat nearly missed what was happening. We called out to him and he turned round and gave us a wonderful smile. That was a priceless moment. We did manage to get a photo of him. I think there were 12 women who were having palpitations at that moment.

Finally everyone had joined us so we decided to go around the corner and have coffee and early lunch and discuss the morning’s events. Everyone was so excited - we sounded like silly teenage girls. There were 14 of us- 13 silly old teenage girls and poor Gordon, Marcia’s husband. The novices were thrilled to have seen André in the flesh. We were all pleased to have seen Pierre and Mirusia as well.

We met 2 other couples whilst having our lunch. We invited them to join us at Hornsby for our fans lunch on May 23.One of the ladies in that group, Edith, decided to go and see if she could line up again because the line was so short. She successfully managed to get André’s signature on a second item. As we were finished our lunch we decided to see how long the queue was and try our luck at lining up again. Ticketek staff and security were quite happy for us to return but André’s men recognised us and told us that we were only allowed one signature even though there was hardly anyone there. It was only about midday.

We left the queue. Before going our separate ways some of our new friends thanked us for making contact and for being so friendly. That’s the effect André has on people who were total strangers and are now friends because they share something so special namely all things André.

Lucky Angela stayed around and saw André coming back from lunch. I believe she got some marvellous footage.

9 of us stayed together and went JB Hi- Fi in the city. Armed with various CDs and DVDs we headed back to Central. As we looked at the timetable we spoke to another lady, Zig, who had come up from Moss Vale to see André.

We boarded our train and settled down to share our day. Again we had a young girl who was too lazy to move away from us and was heard to say on her mobile that "she was in the carriage from hell". Oh isn’t good to get our own back after having to listen to the noise the young ones call music these days!!!

Thanks to Gae again we were able to watch the newly purchased DVDs. I left the train at Hornsby. I drove back to Newcastle with "Masterpieces" and "Fiesta" playing all the way.

All in all we had a great day. However it was disappointing for everyone who took the time to come and see André - we really only saw him for about 10 seconds. The venue was totally inadequate for all concerned. Everyone who came to Sydney deserved better.

The Ticketek booking office did not do André justice. André was perched on a stool in a tiny, badly lit corner of a booking office. I understand why cameras were not allowed as the flashes would have been very disconcerting for André and everyone who was in that small area. We know André likes to sit cross legged on a stage floor to sign autographs.

We, the fans at the Sydney promotion, felt that it was embarrassing to have such an inadequate venue for dear André, Mirusia and Pierre.

The Ticketek booking office did not do the fans justice. It was very disappointing to have waited all that time, up to 6 hours for some fans. We did not have any music playing out on the street. We did not see any of the day’s buildup. We did not hear André play or Mirusia sing. Because of its size we weren’t allowed to photograph anything inside. It would have been much better to have had another venue such as the Opera House steps where we could have seen the day’s proceedings building up to André’s and Mirusia’s arrival even if they hadn’t performed. And we could have taken lots of photos. Congratulations to Warringah Mall and Mall Music for providing André and the fans with a decent venue last year.

Having aired our disappointments I must now tell you what the highlights of the day were.

Some of us had not met each other before today or had only spoken over the phone or by email.

We will be having lunch together on Friday 23 May from 11am at Hornsby RSL Club which is in walking distance of the Station.

Please bring along your photos. I would love copies of discs if possible Thanks.

For those travelling from Newcastle we will be upstairs in the last carriage of the train leaving Newcastle at 7.56am Hope to see you soon.

Till Next Time

Margaret the Newcastle Roving Reporter with help from Faye and Pat "the ferret".