Fine, I'll go to Palm Beach if I Must!

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.

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...

My dirty protest!

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!

I originally thought this might have been Alf's Bait Shop...

...until I found this sign further on...

...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.

One lighthouse

looking back onto the peninsula

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.

This is the most Summer Bay shot I could possibly hope for

More filming locations...

...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!

Suddenly, Will Ye Go Lassie Go...to the church that has hosted some of the most influential weddings of our time!

Whilst everyone else was gearing up for the Royal Wedding in Royal Windsor last week, I was getting ready to do my very own wedding related sightseeing by paying homage to some Neighbours Royalty instead.

The Holy Trinity Church in the suburb of Doncaster was the filming location where Libby and Drew, Lucas and Vanessa, Harold and Madge and most notoriously, Scott and Charlene all tied the knot. Seeing as I'm currently in the midst of my own spiritual pilgrimage, I felt it was only right to include this place of worship as part of it.

Not being one to do things by halves, I decided to actually sit in on one of their services instead of just having a nosy around the church and I'm very glad I did.

I went to the midweek afternoon service and it was filled with the most delightful elderly congregation. Around the other side of the church they have a modern extension which is where the service was held. Unlike more traditional churches this extension had one big glass wall to let in copious amounts of daylight. It also had lots of heat lamps dotted around the place which made it super toasty inside and it was probably the warmest I have ever been whilst sat inside a church.

It was one of the congregation's 99th birthday so we all sang Happy Birthday to her in the middle of the service which I thought was absolutely delightful. The service itself was very friendly, inclusive and upbeat and afterwards I was shown around the older part of the church by the lady who was sat next to me. She proudly told me that the original church was 170 years old!

This is the very same door that Kylie stepped through whilst Angry Anderson was singing his little heart out.

The aisle of dreams...only without Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce standing at the end of it!

After my little tour (I took loads more photos but due to the rubbish camera on my phone they were either too dark or too over exposed), it was insisted that I stay and have tea and birthday cake with everyone else. I got chatting to a lady who told me that she had gone over to Britain when she was young and it took six weeks to get there by boat. However the main topic of conversation was the royal wedding, which I assume was mainly for my benefit as the British guest. I really didn't have the heart to tell them that the only weddings I was interested in were the ones that have happened in their very own church.




If you would like to get in touch or have any suggestions as to where I should visit, please email me at dagsontour@gmail.com or find me on Twitter @fiona_mclean. Equally if you would like to see some of my non Neighbours related travel pics or have a nosy at some photos of the things I sell on Etsy (I knit and sew crazy things) feel free to follow me on Instagram too @mcpoodleshop.