Australia's media heads back to the old country for the royal wedding

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA The Qantas lounge at Brisbane airport looked like a scene from the Queensland Media Awards earlier this week, according to the city's paper The Courier Mail.

It's a scene that was repeated at all of Australia's international airports as the country's media headed off in droves to London for today's Royal Wedding. Channel Nine, one of Australia's national television networks, has dispatched 40 presenters and crew alone.

Three radio stations I flicked between while taking a short 10km drive last night had "royal commentators" discussing the bride and groom as if they were their intimate friends.

Interest in the nuptials of William and Kate has consumed much of the nation. The Royal Family sell papers and draw listeners and viewers big time. Talk of Australia wanting to be an independent republic is, like reports of Mark Twain's death, greatly exaggerated.