(9/14) Yesterday was the day to be in Oprah’s audience. The mogul began her last season on yesterday, and the talk show queen stated on-air that she’ll fly 300 audience members to Australia for a 10-day, all-expenses-paid trip in December. The jet winds up in Sydney, flew by John Travolta, where she’ll film two episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show at the Sydney Opera House – temporarily renamed the Sydney Oprah House in her honor. 

Picture courtesy of AP

‘We’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars over 30 years without much effect,” said John Brown, Minister of tourism. ”You couldn’t possibly quantify the success that you’re going to get from this. The publicity that Oprah will bring to Australia, all around the world, is something you couldn’t buy.”