"I hope I've got the London Rose, " yells one little boy mid-chorus, who appears to have done his research. "Who else has an English flag?"

From the coach, the girls look out in surprise at the vociferous welcome and start taking photos of their admirers. This is the third day of the Roses' tour, but their travels have so far been confined to the capital city. Dubliners, it seems, are not quite so star-struck by the sight of the Rose of Tralee tour bus. "This is just incredible, " confides the New Zealand Rose, Sarah Dwyer, as the girls emerge from the coach and start signing autographs. "This is the first time we've had such a huge welcome. It's really brought home what a big deal this is."

Behind the children, a group of elderly people from the Irish Wheelchair Association have been waiting patiently to greet the girls for the last half an hour. Their faces light up at the sight of the brightly dressed young women.

"You're only gorgeous, " one old woman tells each girl. At the sight of them, the Boston Rose, a police officer in her home city, is reduced to tears. "It's an emotional week, " says one organiser knowingly.

It's also an incredibly busy one . . . since they arrived last Sunday night, the Roses have been to RTE to meet show host Ray D'Arcy and have visited Clontarf Castle, Dublin Zoo, the Guinness Storehouse and the Newbridge Silverware workshop (whose jewellery they are all now sporting).

From Athlone, they were going on to visit the Shannon region, take in the Cliffs of Moher and Bunratty Castle, before finally arriving in Tralee on Friday.

"They're a great bunch, it's just timekeeping that's the problem, " says Rose of Tralee organiser Steve Cronly. This is his eighth Rose tour. "It's getting them on the bus in the mornings, getting them out in the afternoons. Today it was getting them out of the jewellery shop. But sure that's always the way."

The first calamity hit when the New Orleans Rose's bags failed to arrive. "God help her, that was just a nightmare, " sympathises Dublin Rose, Aoife Judge. "But we're all near enough around the same size so everyone helped her out."

That's the thing about the Rose of Tralee . . .despite widespread disbelief every year when each Rose tells Ray on the night how "fantastic" the other girls are, it seems there really is a genuine bond between them, even after just three days together.

"It doesn't feel like a competition at all, it's just not like that, " says the San Francisco Rose, Katie Van Bogaert, whose parents were "shocked" when they found out she was entering the contest.

"It's not a beauty contest like in America, it's so much more than that. We've all been getting on so well. I'm loving every minute."

In the hotel, the Roses are given champagne and soft drinks and settle down to listen to the children's entertainment. These include knockknock jokes and several renditions of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'.

A tiny girl with an Aoife name-badge pinned to her jumper stands up to give her party piece. She opens her mouth and her lips move but almost no sound comes out. The entire room leans in to catch what she is saying/singing. Nothing doing.

Instead, everyone looks at her lips and when they close, and remain closed for a few seconds, everyone bursts into applause.

"What was. . . ?" whispers one Rose. "No idea, " says another, clapping hard.

Chance to relax In just a few days, a bigger, TV audience will be treated to performances by the Roses themselves, including one by the Washington DC Rose, Laura Olsen, who can sing the alphabet backwards. But no one is admitting to nerves . . .yet. Every last Rose says she's "not thinking about that now, " when pressed on her feelings about the selection nights that will take place tomorrow and Tuesday.

Perhaps the girls just want to maintain their camaraderie but this part of the tour is also their biggest chance to relax. Once they arrive in Tralee, they will be firmly in the public eye, more heavily chaperoned and, crucially, under the eye of the judges.

But as they settle themselves onto the Travel Blue boat for a spin around Lough Rea, it seems the competition couldn't be further from their minds. "God, I'm terrified of water, " says the Boston Rose, Nora Rafferty, as the girls teeter on to the boat in their heels.

As they pose on deck for the photographers in the helicopter hovering overhead, however, all fear of water is forgotten. "Smile, girls!" they yell to each other, waving frantically. But as their skirts start to blow up in the wind, they sit down hastily. "I hope the photographers didn't get that!"

As Wicklow Rose Lisa Marie Berry sits back on deck, she reflects on the fact she is the first girl to represent her county in the competition. "It's taken so long to get here that I feel like I'm already a winner, " she says, basking in the sun as the helicopter flits overhead. "God, this is the life."