Aqua's Down Under Diary!
Harbour cruises, beaches, kangaroos and meatballs!!
 

 

When Lene, Claus, Rene and Søren came to town, TV HITS tagged along with those wacky dudes from Denmark as they hit a media trail, went horse riding and made Danish meatballs!
 

Day One
March 13, 1998

1.15 am
The Poor little Aqua babies are all tuckered out when they arrive in Melbourne on a flight from Singapore. They are driven to posh hotel Rockmans Regency for some shut-eye!

7.15 am
After brekkie Lene, Rene, Søren and Claus jump in a limo and head off to a radio station for their first Oz interview. Afterwards it's straight back to their hotel for some more sleep! Zzzz...

Day Two
March 14, 1998

8 am
With a full+on day of TV appearances and interviews ahead - along with another plane flight - the gang has a yummy buffet breakfast to start the day.

10 am - 2.30 pm
The group does loads of interviews at the hotel, before posing for photos with staff and having a quick snack.

3 pm
Aqua heads off to the ABC studios for an interview with Recovery's Dylan Lewis. The guys then complete a few more quick interviews and head back to their hotel for a late lunch.

3.45 pm - 6.35 pm
Aqua leaves the hotel for Hey Hey It's Saturday studios. After rehursing "Lollipop", the band hot-foots it to the make-up department and then chills out until show time! The crowd goes wild as Aqua opens the show but the guys can't stay and chat, they have a flight to catch!

8.30 pm - 10 pm
Aqua say "buh-bye" to Melbourne and "hellooo!" to Sydney. They are whisked off to plush suites at the Sheraton on the Park hotel in the city for dinner and a rest!

Day Three
March 15, 1998

1 pm
After a much-needed sleep in, Aqua meets some ultra-lucky competition winners at their hotel, and then head off to Double Bay Wharf to be interviewed by Ugly Phil for 2Day FM and the Austereo network.

2 pm - 4.15 pm
Aqua travels by boat from Circular Quay to the way-cool Aquashell in Darling Harbour where the guys perform their kickin' free concert for over 8,000 Sydney fans! They perform five songs and the crowd goes wild. Soon after the concert, the gang tells TV HITS they were really excited about the turn-out. ÆThey were saying there was about 500 people there and I was in the boat going, "Oh no! Please, please...", and then I saw the bridge and thousands of people!" exclaims Rene.

Day Four
March 16, 1998

10 am
After a hasty breakfast in their hotel rooms, the Aqua gang sits down with a make-up artist to get glammed up for another round of interviews, including talks with TV HITS and MTV. Lene asks for water and a banana during our interview and shows off a cute Koala bag she bought... what a sweetie!

1.45 pm - 5.30 pm
After a sushi lunch at Bondi, Aqua goes through another exhausting round of press interviews, with poor Lene saying she'd like nothing better than a nice Swedish massage to help her relax!

7 pm
After a quick rest back at the hotel, the foursome heads off to have a yummy Thai dinner with their new buddies from Universal Music Australia!

Day Five
March 17, 1998

11 am - 2.45 pm
After more newspaper interviews, Aqua has lunch at their fave tourist destination, Bondi Beach. The group are conned into trying Vegemite and they all, er, hate it! Rene almost throws up after tasting it, so it's our guess he won't be taking any back to Denmark with him!

3.30 pm
After filming interviews for Video Hits and cable TV programs,  the gang heads back to their hotel to order room service...yum!

Day Six
March 18, 1998

9 am - 12 pm
Woo-hoo! Itæs Aquaæs day off and they don't waste a second! After breakfast it's off to the Koala Park Sanctuary to check out the animals. Søren and Claus take loads of photos and the gang all buy koala soft toys for their pals back home.

12.30 pm - 2 pm
Lene heads off to Peats Ridge to indulge in her fave past-time, horse riding... she had a blast!

2 pm - 6 pm
They all decide to rent sport cars and spend the afternoon cruising around Sydney... aaah the life of a pop star, eh? The guys do some clothes shopping - they really like the bright colours of brands like Quiksilver, Rip Curl and Mambo. Wicked!

Day Seven
March 19, 1998

8 am
Aqua flies out of Sydney and into Brisbane. They head for the Heritage Hotel and grab a couple of hours sleep.

11 am - 5 pm
It's another full day of newspaper, radio and street press interviews as well as promo appearances. Phew!

6 pm
Aqua returns to their hotel and has a free night chilling out. Rene takes over the hotel's kitchen to cook his famous Danish Meatballs!

Day Eight
March 20, 1998

10 am
It's packing, packing and more packing today as the group prepares to fly out for New Zealand. Lene, Rene, Søren and Claus cram in some more shopping - these guys can't be stopped! They check out of the hotel late (oops!) and head for the airport.

5.45 pm
Aqua departs Brisbane bound for Auckland and more interviews. When will it ever end?! Bye Aqua!

© TV HITS Magazine, May 1998