Sydney Harbour Cruise - All Aboard!
Source: Smash Hits Australia - February 2001
All Aboard!
Well not all, just Smash Hits...
When BSB asked for some private time during their whirlwind trip to Oz, they disappeared off around Sydney Harbour...with us. Here's exactly what happened!
Who was there? The five boys, various record company people, two photographers, their bodyguards, the boy's three managers, and Smash Hits!
1:04pm The boat Cosmos docks at Rose Bay Harbour and five excited Backstreet Boys hop on! "Coo-ool!" yells Nick as he races through and on to the top deck. "Can I drive?" Errr...no! The boat is huge and the boys look visibly relieved to just be around close friends rather than with the media circus that's been following them everywhere they go. "You know," drawls Kev "I'm really looking forward to this cruise".
1:05pm The boys spy the huge seafood buffet lunch and they're desperate to eat. "This is the bomb" Kevin tucks himself away in the corner and phones wife Kristin who's at home decorating their house. AJ moans because Kev has taken most of the prawns. While Kev's busy talking colour schemes, AJ runs over grabs some prawns and stuffs them in his mouth before Kev can say a word. "Sorry, man" yells a now very excited AJ. Brian sits down on the other side of the deck and picks at a salad. He asks for a beer! "Just to chill out" he admits.
1:15pm Howie decides to get some food and admits he's a big fan of choccie cake. Nick looks at it, grabs a piece of chicken and walks away. "I hate plates" he says bizarrely.
1:25pm It must be something that runs in the family, because Nick becomes obsessed with sharks in Sydney Harbour (just like little bro Aaron). "How many are in there?" he asks us. When we admit we have no idea, he decides to grill the captain about it. The captain admits he has no idea either, but when he tells Nick that there have been a few shark attacks recently in South Australia, Nick goes pale. "If you see one lemme know" he tells the now bemused captain. "I wanna swim with sharks soooo bad" he says. "You know, I've never seen one close up. Can you imagine?"
1:36pm The boys enjoy a sneaky beer. It's the first drink they've had and as Bri says, "We deserve it, man!"
1:40pm Brian asks us for a guided tour of Sydney Harbour as we cruise past the Opera House. We try and point out some land marks but Brian's interrupted by AJ, who suddenly decides he wants to throw him over the side. With some strange rugby-tackle type manouvre he nearly topples Brian over the edge. Bri starts shouting. Nick runs over and tackles AJ. While Marcus, their big and burly security guard starts looking a bit worried as AJ starts yelling "Say hello to the sharks Nicky..." Before we know it a full-on play fight has erupted on deck. We quickly move out of the way as AJ and Nick (Brian mysteriously disappears) battle it out to see who�s "going to swim with the fishes". Kev and Howie just watch it all from afar. "Here we go again" mutters Kev and gives them a stern Dad-like look. We get the feeling that this happens all the time. The fight ends when Marcus steps in and says to AJ "You wanna try and throw me over the side, Bone?"
1:47pm Brian's desperately trying to send a text message to wife Leighanne who's been left at home. "Poor baby" he whispers. "She misses me". So is he missing her?. "Yeah, but this is my time away with my boys. We're just chilling out" he says. "We're having fun and we�re bein' boys. It's good to do this". "Yeah" admits Kev. "This is like a bucks night but after the wedding!" As if to prove a point, we listen into AJ and security guard Marcus discuss women. A waitress on the boat definitely gets the thumbs up. And obviously girlfriend Amanda (or 'Poopy' as he affectionately calls her) is at the top of the list. But suddenly he admits he has a soft spot for another pop star - Anastasia. "She's real pretty" he says. "Oh yeah!" We listen into the rest of the conversation:
Marcus: Yeah but she's older than you
AJ: Sooo...she's hot
Marcus: Hmmmm
AJ: I'm not saying I want to go there....'cos I don't. But I think she's a good looking girl. What's wrong with that?
Nick: You know who's nice? Billie. She's hot.
AJ: You know who else is hot?
Nick: Who?
AJ: Howie!!! Hahahahahahaah!
Nick: Howie is sooooooo hot!
The boys start screaming with laugher! And the rest of the boat look at each other with bemusement. Poor Howie just carries on munching on his salad.
1:59pm It's obvious that Nick has far too much energy. Rather than watching the Harbour and the boats, he decides he wants to take some photos to remember the day. He ends up trying to film extreme close-ups. Brian grabs another camera and the boys waste about 24 pictures taking strange close-up shots of each other. Boys 'eh?
2pm The boys pose for a few photos. Poor Howie is at the receiving end of Nick's jokes again. He starts bagging him out for his hair, his hat and even his smile. "I can't help it" he laughs. "Howie was put on this earth for it". When we try and stick up for Howie, Nick replies "I'll start on you in a minute" he warns. We hide, you don't want to mess with his boy!
2:17pm The boys have their piccie taken with Smash Hits, and threaten to throw us over board again. We're scared!
2:30pm We pass under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Howie sees people walking on it. "Oh my God" he yells. "You can walk on it. Look guys, look!" The boys are more interested in learning to steer the boat and ignore Howie's shouts. Aaahh! We tell Howie that Smash Hits took Mandy Moore on the Harbour Bridge climb when she was here. "You did?" he asks. "How come we can't do it?" When we explain they're only in Oz for one day, he gets all sad. Next time Howie!
2:40pm We arrive at Darling Harbour where the boys are told we're going to get out. But it's a false alarm. "Where are the fans?" asks AJ. "There is no one here!" As the boat turns around again, AJ breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank God! That would have been kinda embarrassing if we'd have got off the boat and there were no fans there".
2:45pm Howie comes over to Smash Hits and asks us if we'd like to hang out with the boys for the rest of the day. "We like Smash Hits" he admits. "Cos we know you. Other people try to pretend to be our friends, but you guys really are". We agree but only on the condition each boy will give us a full and frank interview. He agrees.
What happened next? We talk exclusively to each BSB about the Australian fans they want to track down, Kevin's bid for presidency, Howie's plans to open an Aussie nightclub. And what is really going on with Nick's love life!
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