Spring is well on its way over in Sydney and every day that I'm able to wear my thongs (I'm not only learning the lingo over here but I'm also using it in day to day life) without my toes freezing off, I plan a trip to one of the many many beaches the New South Wales coastline has to offer.
I'm a sucker for a good beach day and I'm one of those crazy Brits that loves to run into the ocean as soon as the outside temperature gets past 20 degrees...which incidentally has been a regular occurrence throughout the "winter" here so I've already explored a lot of the coastline.
With this in mind, it was inevitable that at some point I would eventually swallow my pride and head on up to Palm Beach which is where The Other Soap is filmed. However, you'll be pleased to know that I dressed for the occasion and wore my Scott and Charlene for this outing as a very subtle protest.
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| Dancing on the beach in my Scott and Charlene t-shirt |
Palm beach is actually a suburb about 40 km north of Sydney on a beautiful peninsular so I had to take a ferry (they are part of the public transport network here which is pretty damn cool) and then quite a lengthy bus journey up the coast afterwards to reach it but it was so worth it!
There are several different beaches dotted around the place and I made my way to all of them. As someone who hasn't watched Home and Away since it got axed from ITV (I know I know, I am the worst kind of hypocrite) I wasn't entirely sure what to look out for in terms of filming locations but I amused myself by being a rebel and writing rude things in the sand...
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| My dirty protest! |
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| Beautiful views over looking one of the beaches |
Because I'm such a huge fan of the show I originally thought the building pictured below might be Alf's Bait Shop...until I actually reached Alf's Bait Shop and realised how foolish I had been to think that!
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| I originally thought this might have been Alf's Bait Shop... |
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| ...until I found this sign further on... |
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| ...and then got to this television-ready building and felt like quite the fool! |
After that I climbed up to the lighthouse which I assume must featured on the show. The panoramic views from up there are absolutely breathtaking and I really wish I had a better camera to do them justice.
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| One lighthouse |
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| looking back onto the peninsula |
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| So much ocean! |
After my decent I went to the beach on the eastern side of the peninsula which I think is where most of the beach scenes are filmed. The sand on that side is really red and sticky (it's an absolute bugger to wash off) as opposed to the western beaches where the sad is white and your feet sink ankle deep with every step you take.
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| This is the most Summer Bay shot I could possibly hope for |
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| More filming locations... |
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| ...with more opportunities to take photos of me standing outside them wearing inappropriate clothing! |
All in all, despite the obvious massive flaw to this beautiful place, I utterly adored exploring Palm Beach (as a fan of beaches and ocean scenery, not as a fan of the rival soap) and I'm very glad I got over myself and made the effort to go.
The one thing that impressed me more than anything was the fact that you could actually buy quite an extensive range of Summer Bay related merchandise from inside Alf's Bait Shop, which then made me sad there is no Neighbours equivalent other than the very feeble attempt at merchandise
Bunyip Tours has to offer...get onto it Erinsborough Council, we need official merchandise god damn it!
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