Aussievision team: Liv

Name and where you live

I'm Liv (will occasionally respond to "Olivia" - but never "Livvy"), 25-years-old and I currently live in Melbourne, Victoria. I'm originally from a small town in South-West Victoria with a population of 55 and grew up on a 2,500 acre beef and lamb property. I live with my partner Carl who is gradually becoming a hardcore Eurofan like his better half.

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I currently work in Radiology at one of the largest public hospitals in Australia as a Nuclear Medicine & Position Emission Tomography (PET) Technologist. It's hard to believe I've been working for so many years now - some days I really do feel like a fresh-faced intern still.

I'm better known for being a "horse-girl" though - I always grew up riding and have found my niche in the horse community doing Horse Showing (think beauty pageants for horses). I've driven all over the country competing and am lucky to have some very beautiful horses - including the infamous Tony. Just recently I've bought a wonderful little mare called Gigi who I'm sure I'll flood your twitter feeds with shortly! I also partake in the other side of horses - judging competitions, coaching and have even won Australasian Young Adult Judge of the Year in my heyday and competed successfully at the infamous Royal Melbourne Show.

Tony and I competing at the Royal Melbourne Show

There was a short period in high school when I wanted to be professional Saxophonist, eventually losing out to working in healthcare or farming. I did all my exams on Alto Saxophone but always had a knack and soft spot for Baritone. In final year of school I won the prize for music - mostly because I would play anything and everything in any band or orchestra the school needed players for. By the end of school I'd played first chair Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute and Piccolo at some point or another. I always got the short straw and would transpose on the fly for random parts like Bassoon or Euphonium to fill in the gaps on Baritone. One of my favourite achievements was composing a quintet for 'Stairway to Heaven' for Tenor/Flute, Drums, Piano, Electric Violin and Cello from scratch. It sounded pretty lit if I do say so myself.

Growing up on a farm I've got some pretty niche skills - if any Eurofans need some hay bailing or pregnancy checks on cows, I've got ya covered. I've managed to incorporate these skills somehow into OGAE Australia Lipsyncfestivalen entries where I was their inaugural winner.

My other passion is playing field hockey - I've been playing since I was 7-years-old and represented Victoria as a junior. Back in high school I'd play 8 times a week - now I play more for fun and fitness and the idea of 5am hockey training only brings me pain.

What is your Eurovision journey?

My Mum's family are Sicilian and watching Eurovision and Sanremo Music Festival was something I grew up with. My earliest memory was dancing around my Nonni's lounge room to 'Everyway That I Can' from 2003 with my cousins. I loved it SO MUCH and would demand they rewind the VHS and play it again and again. My dad even made a little mock Sertab Erener outfit for me!

I continued to watch Eurovision but on the down-low as it was considered mildly "uncool" at my school. In 2011 non-other that Eric Saade turned me into an absolute mega-fan - his performance of 'Popular' changed everything for me and from then on I very unapologetically became the "crazy-Eurovision-horse-girl".

In 2017 during a fateful Radiation Physics lecture completely bored out of my mind I decided on a whim to make a twitter dedicated to Eurovision. I was addicted. All these wonderful national finals graced my eyes and I met some of the most amazing international fans to talk non-stop about my passion for the contest. FINALLY I FOUND MY PEOPLE.

Through twitter I eventually found OGAE Australia and got to meet some other locals where I found Mike and Dale and the rest is history. We hit it off and eventually I joined Aussievision and I haven't looked back. I've yet to make it to Eurovision itself but I've been to each Australia Decides and was fortunate enough to be part of the online press room for Rotterdam 2022. With any luck 2023 is the year I go for real!

Do you have any affinity to nations other than Australia?

Yeah, well - if you've seen any of the coverage for Sanremo Music Festival at Aussievision I can very proudly say it was me!! I even take leave from work to see the whole festival live - I wouldn't miss it for the world. It's pretty much set in stone that all my relatives watch and support Italy at Eurovision (no matter how many generations Australian born they are). Italy is almost always my favourite entry of the year - but no bias.

Apart from Italy I have a soft spot for Romania - I've met so many wonderful and gorgeous Romanian Eurovision fans through twitter and I adore their passion for the contest. Even tried very hard to learn Romanian - albeit terribly. It comes in handy for my patients though - they really appreciate it when I can speak even bits of Romanian for them!

Any Aussievision highlights?

Doing the online press centre for Rotterdam was pretty darn exciting and special. Seeing the evolution of Måneskin's rehearsals was equally as exhilarating and excruciating. I knew the moment they won Sanremo they would win Eurovision and I was so excited for them it almost made me sick. I'm not particularly religious but the Italian-Catholic in mean was screaming to pray for them during every rehearsal!!

I also loved meeting the artists at Australia Decides - shout out to fellow South-West Victorian Didirri who was my first interview ever and such a lovely soul.

My first interview ever with Didirri

Quick questions on Eurovision entries

Best winner:

Eimear Quinn 'The Voice' (1996), my birth year so definitely fate.

Favourite three non-Australian entries:

Zlata Ognevich 'Gravity' (2013), Jalisse 'Fiumi di parole' (1997) & Måneskin 'Zitti e buoni' (2022)

Favourite Australian entry:

Guy Sebastian 'Tonight Again' (2015) - it's going to take a lot to top that FEELING of our first entry hitting the stage. I was running around the farm with an Australian flag for weeks after the Grand Final still elated from it.

Makes you dance:

Sanja Ilić & Balkanika 'Nova Deca', Hurricane 'Loco Loco' and Eleni Foureira 'Fuego' could all pull me from a coma.

Favourite non-qualifier:

Moje 3 'Ljubav je svuda' (2013)

Favourite Eurovision year:

2013 hands down - a lot of my favourite entries of all time come from it. Not to mention Sweden did a stellar hosting job and I for one loved that stage.

Favourite national finals:

Sanremo, Vidbir, Australia Decides and Melodifestivalen (only basic responses allowed here)

Favourite national final songs:

Favourite Sanremo entries: Annalisa 'Il mondo prima di te', The Kolors 'Frida (mai, mai, mai), Sangiovanni 'Farfalle', Nek 'Mi farò trovare pronto', Madame 'Voce' and Elisa 'O Forse Sei Tu' from recent years.

Other entries: Tamás Horváth 'Meggyfa', Rebecca 'Who We Are', Samir & Vikor 'Shuffla', Electric Fields '2000 And Whatever', MIHAI 'Paradisio', Lina Hedlund 'Victorious', Elvana 'Me Tana', Inis Neziri 'Pendesë'.