Backstage Tour of Nunawading Studios

In the real world, when I'm not being a stereotypical Travel Wanker, I work as a Set Dresser/Art Department type for television and film productions.

The top most item on my life long bucket list has always been to work on Neighbours and a very big reason why I've put my life on hold for a year is to try and finally make this happen. A few weeks after I landed in Melbourne I managed to successfully get in touch with a couple of people who work within the Art Department on Neighbours and they very kindly invited me to their Nunawading Studios for an access all areas tour, which is the main reason why I haven't actually gone on the Official Neighbours Tour yet...although obviously I still might do that because you can never have too many Neighbours related things on your once in a life time trip to Australia!

So off I trundled to Nunawading Studios with my glue stick (it's a reference from the wonderful song my friend wrote for me) and hoped that I wouldn't come across as too much of a fan girl whilst I was there.

Just hanging out at the Neighbours studio with my glue stick...as you do!

Because I was trying to make a good impression infront of the people I desperately hoped would invite me back to work for them in the future, I was trying to play it cool and didn't take any photos as I was being shown around but inside I was more excited than a kid going to Disneyland. I had a pretty extensive tour around all the exterior sets including the backyards and inside the police station and Lassiters and the Community Centre etc. And then they had organised for me to sit in the studio whilst they were filming so I could watch the last four scenes of the day being shot which was super amazing.

I have been sitting on the knowledge that Ned Willis comes back and Toadie gets sprung with a surprise baby as an offshoot from his one night stand with Fake Dee in London and also that Aaron and David have wedding dance lessons from Dipi for three months now and it was extremely exciting to see these scenes being played out on the show last week.

Despite my earlier reluctance to take any photos, I was forced to pose for photos inside the interior of Harold's and also the Brennan household . Also my claims to fame from that day were carrying the plant that lives by the front door of the Brennan house into the studio and also wheeling the buggy of Toadie and Fake Dee's lovechild from the studio back to the Art Department storage room at the end of the day...Baby's watermelon carrying has nothing on me!

I'll have a Fiji water please!

Rearranging the fruit bowl

This couch smells of Brennan

Washing up before Mark's OCD kicks in.

A photo of all three Brennan boys...all fully clothed at the same time!

I had such a wonderful day at the studios and I will be forever grateful to everyone in the Art Department who really looked after me and made a random Pom who is a bit too obsessed with their show feel extremely welcome!

Grampians Getaway

Last weekend I went on a little three day getaway to The Grampians, which is a beautiful forresty/mountainy area between Melbourne and Adelaide and it is also absolutely packed full of kangaroos and emus.

As I don't have a car, I had to be inventive with my travel arrangements. I managed to get around my transport dilemma by booking myself onto a one day tour to The Grampians on the Friday and then I would be dropped off at a hostel, where I'd stay for two nights and then the tour guide who was coming out on Sunday would pick me up in the evening before his group headed back to Melbourne again.

On the way to The Grampians we drove through Ballarat and stopped briefly by the lake to have a cup of tea. Ballarat was at the heart of the gold rush in Victoria and more importantly...was where Libby Kennedy moved to for a while to bring up Ben, before heading off to China and letting her parents look after her son (although I would much rather be looked after by Susan and Karl than Libby if I had the choice). It was very gloomy and the middle of winter but I can imagine in the summer the area around the lake would be really lovely.

By the time we arrived at The Grampians the weather had cleared up, we had pizza by a beautiful lake and then we went exploring waterfalls, stunning lookout points and a really interesting Aboriginal Culture Centre. Our tour guide was absolutely brilliant and I ended up chatting to him loads about all sorts of things including the fact that his tour company had recently teamed up with two ladies and they were now doing a clean up the beaches tour of the Great Ocean Road. He also gave me loads of useful information about the best hiking trails and places to eat in the little town where I would be staying for the next two nights.

Lake Bellfield

Brambuk Information and Cultural Centre. The mountains in the background are the ones I tackled the next day!

The Balconies overlooking the vast eucalyptus forests of the Grampians  

I was dropped off at my hostel at 6pm and greeted by a super friendly woman who showed me to my room. I asked her if there was a TV as I obviously needed to watch Neighbours and she gave me directions to the lounge. At 6:15 I ventured out of my room, made myself a cup of tea in the largest mug I've ever seen and entered the lounge (which had a roaring fire going and the most comfortable sofas in the world) at which point a man turned around and immediately asked me if I was the Neighbours girl!!! It's nice to know that it takes just half an hour to get typecast...even over here!

Over the next few days I did some serious walking, including a grueling four hour hike to the get to The Pinnacle lookout point (on a very misty day so there wasn't much to look out onto). The next day I went up the opposite mountain and was able to see a lot more when I reached the top.

What a view!

I don't even need to go to New Zealand to experience Middle Earth!

A much better view than the day before.

After climbing every mountain I walked back through the little town of Halls Gap and I amused myself by taking photos of signs that I could make Neighbours connections to...which is a popular pastime I've developed since starting my travels.

Darcy Tyler's bar and grill

I really hope Shane Rebecchi puts one of these signs up on his wee generator.

I see Tim Collins is trying to compete with  the Robinson's hotel empire...

...and there's room for all in Ned's bed!

I appreciate this blog post is more about me boasting that I climbed several mountains rather than anything hugely Neighbours related although I did try to keep it on topic as best I could. I've actually hopped over to Sydney now for a bit and I'm not really sure how long I'm going to be there for or when I'll be going back to Victoria but I have really really enjoyed exploring Melbourne and the surrounding areas and I was quite emotional when I left.

My little trip to The Grampians was the perfect way to end this leg of my journey and I met some really lovely people in the three days I was there. I would thoroughly recommend taking the time to explore this beautiful part of Victoria if you can and I've left some helpful links below.


Autopia Tours - tour company I used for the first day and my transport back to Melbourne

Grampians Eco YHA - the most wonderful hostel you'll encounter in your life. Really family friendly and also has free eggs in the morning freshly laid by the resident chickens!

Trash Bags on Tour - small start up tour company that cleans up the local area as they explore

Yer a Wizard Patrick!

On Tuesday night I managed to combine my love of Neighbours with my love of Harry Potter and the result involved hopping along to the Alex Theatre in St Kilda to see Puffs, a play about the Hufflepuffs that went to Hogwarts at the same time as Harry. But what does this have to do with Neighbours I hear you ask? Well the actor playing Cedric Diggory was infact none other than Rob Mills (or Millsy as everyone calls him round here) who plays Elly's ex, the dastardly Mr Finn Kelly who was so hell bent on becoming the Principal of Erinsborough High that he poisoned Susan by switching her meds with Piper's and then manipulated one of his student's, Xanthe, to fall in love with him so she could do all his dirty work. Then he had an aneurysm and went to jail but he's currently back and brought Elly's long lost sister with him and is pretending to be a paraplegic called Partick in an attempt to somehow win Elly back and I assume poison Susan all over again. Good old Neighbours and their ridiculous plots!

When I got to the theatre I was really impressed at how beautifully decorated the foyer was and at the range of merchandise that was on offer. As a proud Hufflepuff myself, I had to restrain myself from buying everything and I ended up walking away with just a t-shirt and a programme (although I very nearly bought a beanie as well). The auditorium was also vastly decorated with bunting, books, portraits all over the walls (without their subjects standing in them because they were obviously elsewhere or very shy) and two notice boards with amusing notes and posters plastered all over them.

The play itself was really well paced and hilarious and was taylored beautifully to the Australian audience. There were a lot of in jokes taken from both the Harry Potter books and films that they didn't waste time explaining. The overriding message of the play was that some people are destined to be the hero but a lot of people aren't and that you should embrace your mediocrity as long as you try your best which I think is a really lovely message to promote and it was such a perfect celebration of Harry Potter fandom.

As a Brit who has only seen Millsy in Neighbours up until now, I was eager to find out why the Aussies all love him so much (he was in Australian Idol and ever since has become a firm favourite on the telly and on the stage). He played Cedric so well and for the first time in my life I actually warmed to the character as I really can't stand Robert Pattinson...even before he became a shit vampire!

After the show, the whole cast mingled in the foyer afterwards and chatted merrily with the audience. Whilst I was waiting for my friend to come back from an urgent mission to find some abandoned knitting outside, I managed to catch Millsy briefly and gush at him about how much I loved Neighbours and Finn Kelly's dastardly ways.

Two specky gits!

I think everybody on Ramsay Street will concur that he is 100% a Snake!

Puffs is on at the Alex Theatre in St Kilda until the end of July. There is a lot of adult humour in this play but the weekend matinees are suitable for all ages. Go to the website for more details and ticket bookings.

Toad-ally Excited for this Little Find

I was browsing a few shops today in Melbourne when I stumbled across this little beauty of a greetings card in Mag Nation and then got really really excited and bought two of them!

This is the first whiff I've got of Neighboursness in the wilds of Melbourne since I arrived over three months ago...and believe me I have searched very hard (unless you count the minimalistic attempt at merchandise in the Bunyip Tours office that constitutes of just one postcard and one magnet). Needless to say I was over the moon at my small find and it has given me hope that I'll find more Neighbours related goodies elsewhere!

This card is also available to buy online from the AHD Paper Co website.

Werribee Mansion

At the weekend I went to Werribee Mansion. My family, who I'm currently staying with at the moment, were going to a three day horse event in the beautiful grounds of this beautiful house over the bank holiday weekend (Australian's have a bank holiday to celebrate the Queen's birthday!!!) so I tagged along for a wholesome family fun day out, not really knowing what to expect other than lots of horses.

However, as we walked up the drive through some amazing monkey puzzle trees towards the house, I realised instantly that I had seen this building before and started getting very excited because unbeknownst to me, I had unexpectedly ended up at the place where Toadie and Dee got married, just hours before they decided to launch their car off a cliff (don't pash and drive kids!) and Dee got washed away to into the ocean, never to been seen again...well maybe....nobody's sure at the time of writing this what craziness the writers have planned for the Fake Dee/Andrea storyline.

So this is now the second Neighbours wedding venue I've visited since being in Melbourne, the first being the iconic church Scott and Charlene tied the knot in. The mansion itself was locked up on the day I visited due to all the horse related things happening around it but the grounds on their own were absolutely stunning.

Oh and just incase you were worried...nobody died or got paralysed due to horse related injuries!

The Perfect Proposal by Sophie King - A Book Review

I have never read a single Mills and Boon novel in my life but I can imagine they are not too dissimilar in style to this romance novel by Sophie King. 

It has all the classic features of your average, stereotypical, easy read, chick lit novel which is not a genre I find myself gravitating towards that often. The Perfect Proposal however, is chick lit with a very unique selling point and for that reason, I couldn't wait to get stuck into this book as soon as it was available to buy on my Kindle. This particular USP transported me back to the golden era of a Ramsay Street full of mullets...before Jim Robinson had his heart attack, Helen Daniels was still the reining queen of Erinsborough, and her Grandson, Paul had just hired a new Promotions Manager for Lassiters named Gail Lewis. 

The book centres around Paul and Gail hatching a plan to fake a relationship with each other and going through the motions of marrying for convenience in order to seal an elusive deal with Japanese investor, Mr Udagawa, who rates family values above anything else. It sounds completely far fetched but this was a real storyline that happened in Neighbours back in the late 80s and from what I gather, the book stays very true to the 30 year old plot.

The writing itself certainly won't win any literature prizes but I have definitely read worse books in my lifetime and the story flowed extremely easily. As somebody who was far too young to remember this iconic storyline first hand from the show, I really appreciated the opportunity to delve deeper into the origins of Paul and Gail's relationship and to revisit this bygone era of Neighbours history.

The only thing that I felt was lacking somewhat was the sexiness levels. I wouldn't want it to go full Fifty Shades (because that is a terrible book and you'd better off reading literally anything else) and I know the story was plucked from a family show in an era before the Kennedy's moved to the street with all their filthy blue box habits and it was also before the script writers added blatant innuendos into every other episode but I just feel the levels of secret desire between the two main characters could have been amped up a few notches. After all, what's the point of writing Neighbours fan fiction starring Sex God Robinson and not using the excuse to take full advantage of it?

If you love Neighbours (and if you don't, why are you even reading this blog?) or if you love easy chick lit novels then I definitely would recommend reading this book and for me personally, it was the perfect accompaniment to my Aussie adventures. Over on the Amazon page, it says in brackets that this is Neighbours book 1 so I am very much looking forward to reading more Neighbours based romances by Sophie King in the future.

Secret Neighbours Related Mission

I set myself a secret mission when I first arrived in Melbourne two months ago to track down a Neighbours cast member and ask them to record a little message for my really good friend from the UK who, unbeknownst to her, was going to be proposed to by her boyfriend whilst on holiday. The friend in question is also a huge fan of the show (this isn't the only reason why we're friends but I think it played a big part in how we ended up becoming pals in the first place) so it seemed only right that I should do something Neighbours related as an engagement present for her.

I wasn't having much success up until now but on Tuesday morning I just happened to be walking past Federation Square in the CBD and noticed a small TV crew set up at the bottom of the steps and someone who looked suspiciously like Mishti Sharma from Neighbours fame (played by Scarlet Vas) huddled in a grey dressing gown waiting for the sun to emerge from behind a cloud.

After circling round the square a few times to make sure it definitely was her, I let my inner fan girl take over and approached very sheepishly. Scarlet was absolutely lovely and more than willing to play along.

I wasn't exactly sure when the proposal was going to take place although I did know it was going to be in June at some point. The very next evening I received a message from my friend with a photo of her ring on her finger and so I sent her the video in response. Mission accomplished...and just in time!