Everybody needs good Neighbours.....

Yesterday was the day I'd been waiting for. Finally we could go on the official Neighbours tour. We were collected early by the tour guide who gave a quick run down of the history of the show. Even I struggled with some of the characters he was talking about, there are over 300 people so far. He also added some interesting facts about the show, like the fact that its the longest running drama series in Australia and that its been sold to over 50 countries. Then we headed off with a 'classic' episode on the DVD player. It was the one where Harold returns with amnesia as Ted the Salvation Army volunteer. It was funny watching it after all these years, the 90's fashion and hair was hilarious and Hannah Martin is still just as annoying as she was all those years ago.

The first stop is Pine Oak Court which is the real location for Ramsey Street. Its much smaller than it looks on TV and most of the houses are real peoples houses. They get a load of cash and 24 hour security guard in exchange for letting the show shot in the road and gardens of the houses. It has to be the safest road in Australia due to the 24 hour security but in the show its so dangerous, everyone dies. The tour guided outlined who had lived where and the major events that had happened in the street. After a few pictures with the famous sign we head off to the studios for an exclusive (until next weekend when the tour runs again) look at some of the other locations used.

The studio lot is only used for Neighbours now, but in the past other shows including Prisoner Cell Block H were filmed there. It was exciting seeing all the other places from the show, mostly around the Lassiters complex as well as Fitzgeralds Motors and Grease Monkeys. Amazingly all the sets are really close to each other, it's very cool to see how they would have to shoot certain scenes to hide other parts of the set. The show films 5 days a week and is filming 4 months ahead of schedule for Australia, this is about 6 months back for the UK. Luckily they are in the process of filming a dramatic storyline involving a wedding. All the debris from an explosion was on the grass outside the hotel. The guide teased that he knew who it was but didn't tell us. By chance we found a script left on the floor and managed to read some of it. Lloyd was about to steal it but failed to 'act casual' then the security guard looked over. I was gutted as it would have been an awesome souvenir.

After all the excitement we headed to the beach in Port Melbourne and met up with Lloyd's uni friend Chris and his fiancé Krista. They have a lovely place looking over the beach so we headed back and fired up the BBQ again. Lloyd and Chris spent much of the evening reminiscing about Uni days.

In the middle of Ramsey Street - Thats the Kennedys on the right

Outside the House of Trouser

Green fingered Janine looking to take over Sonya

Waiting for Harold to serve us - might be a long wait he left the show

OMG! Janine tries out as an extra

  

Eureka!!

On Friday we started late, only heading into the city for about lunchtime. We found a jacket potato place, called Spud Bar, that does extravagant toppings, I was in heaven! We then used our free tickets to the Eureka Skydeck, we had received these when we bought the Great Ocean Road tour although we weren't initially that fussed it turned out to be a really cool experience. The Eureka tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, standing 279 metres tall. It offered great views of the whole city of Melbourne and luckily it was a clear day. Cleverly the observation floor has fixed viewing tubes which point out key landmarks in the city and beyond,  definitely something other tall buildings could use. We then spent the rest of the evening in a Belgian beer garden with Tom and Tessa and their friends.

Saturday we cooked an epic fry up, although Tom insisted we had asparagus with it, which Lloyd found odd. Then we headed out of the city for a small town called Warburton. This is way up the Yarra river from Melbourne and it was a nice drive through wine country to get there. We chilled out in the sun by the river fora  few hours. All of us managed to get in the river although only for a very short time as it was freezing. Once the heat died down a bit we took a walk along the banks, spotting the wildlife and some locals bobbing along on lilos. The days heat had tired us out so we headed back for a BBQ and some cool beers in the garden.

Cow up tree - perfectly normal in OZ apparently

Lloyd's on the edge

The MCG and Rod Laver Arena

A ghost is terrorising Melbourne

Trying a Lamington - Spong, jam, choclate and coconut - not bad actually

Stroll along the Yarra

Great Ocean Road

Yesterday we took a tour down the Great Ocean Road. This is a 151 mile stretch of road that runs from Torquay to Warrnambool. It was built by returning veterans from World War 1. Pretty impressive considering they did this with little machinery, just hard work and some dynamite. The tour took in many sights along the way, it passes through a varied landscape from sandy beaches to rainforest covered mountains and on to dramatic cliffs. The first stop was Bells beach which is a world famous surf beach. At this point I learned one of the most important lessons of being a tourist, remember to put a battery in your camera, oops. Luckily Janine had her camera so we managed to get some pictures. We stopped at many interesting places including the Split Point Lighthouse used in kids TV show Round the Twist (Colin are you jealous now?). Lunch was a BBQ at the Cape Otway lighthouse, this marks the end of the Bearing Straight and the start of the Souther Ocean. Amazingly a few weeks ago we were over 2000 miles away at the other side of the southern ocean in Cape Leeuwin. The trip to the lighthouse also included a stop to look at some wild Koalas. These were reintroduced as part of a regeneration program, but now they are overpopulated in the area. This means that large areas of eucalyptus has been stripped of its leaves and will die. 

After lunch we hit the main highlights of the tour the 12 Apostles limestone rock formations and Loch Ard Gorge. Both were very impressive parts of this dramatic coastline and a great way to finish the tour. Although there are no longer 12 rocks standing out at sea, time and the elements have taken some of them, its still stunning. Luckily, as time passes and the coast erodes, more of these limestone stacks will be created.

Arriving back in Melbourne late we met up with Tom and my cousin Jacob for a beer. The family back home will be glad to know he is OK  Randomly he had been given a Tutankhamen mask from a customer at his work, so he was lugging this around for the evening.

Memorial Arch at the start of the Great Ocean Road

Strange things happen @ Split Point Lighthouse

Wild Koala - Bigger than in Queensland

Cape Otway lighthouse

Limestone stack nr Loch Ard Gorge

The 12 Apostles

On the Gibson Steps this Tiger Snake was sitting watching everyone

Its Jacob!

Melbourne..Food...

On Tuesday evening we left Alex and Adams place in Brisbane and flew down to Melbourne, the flight was fine until we circled to land. Then it got really bumpy, so bumpy that people were gasping with each bump. Its the worst turbulence we've had and hopefully something we don't have again. We are staying with my uni friend Tom in a big shared house. Its perfect to get to the city from as its only a 15 minute train journey. 

Wednesday we took the chance to have a look round the city, neither of us had been before so we were keen to see as much as possible. There is a free tourist shuttle that tours the whole city and gives some history about each stop. You can hope on and off as needed but we decided to stay on to get our bearings. After a quick lunch we explored the many lanes and arcades that make up the city centre, its a Mecca for food and shopping and the temptation to splash out is everywhere.  The lanes have a cafe culture similar to many European cities and its easy to sit with a drink chatting away while the city rushes by. There is also some cool graffiti around various corners and alleys, some of it just off very popular streets. Not omething that would last in London

In the evening we headed to the famous Victoria markets for their weekly night market. If the temptations of the lanes was hard then it was impossible to resist the food here. The night markets contain loads of food stalls selling international cuisine. It took us an hour decide what to eat first, the selection was that good. There is also plenty of clothing and nick-nacks to buy and live bands playing on all four corners of the market. We chilled out in the sun watching a band then decided more food was needed. We left the markets tired from all the walking and eating.

Serious Temptation

Lanes in Melbourne

Green Tea in the Lanes

Paella from the market

Very Busy - Victoria Market

Fish and Chainsaws

This weekend we have been spending some time with Alex and Adam at their new home. Saturday morning we were up at the insanely early time of 5.30am to go fishing in their boat. Neither of us had done much fishing before, and it showed as we both were pretty unsuccessful. Adam caught a few Bream but they were all too small to keep. Janine almost reeled in something big but it snapped the line. I was convinced it was a dead bird but the others saw a fin so claim it was a fish.

Alex and Adam heading out to sea

Our first catch of the day

Unsuccessful fishermen, but still fun

Just as we returned from the fishing trip the heavens opened and a massive thunderstorm hit. Nothing like the UK, really fat rain and crazy amounts of lightening and thunder. Within a couple of hours the rain had passed and it was sunny again. We picked up some beers and some bits and headed to Adams brothers for a BBQ. After spending most of the afternoon there with a few of his brothers and their family we dove back in the car as the rains came again. When we got back another storm was about to hit, we were glad to be inside with our McDonald's chips.

Adam got a free new (old) chainsaw to play with

Drew and Adam get confused by a challange Lloyd set

Heavy Rain

Sunday was a lazy one, we met up for sushi with Emily and Selwyn then head back to make the most of the sun while we could. In the evening another storm hit this one was lighter than the previous days but still heavy by our standards.

Today Alex and Adam had to go back to work, we've kinda forgotten what that feels like. So we took their bikes out for a long ride along the river near their house. Tonight we cook Ailsa's fabled Buried Treasure for the guys, I am sure they will love it.

Which of Janines hands got bitten?

Out on the bikes

Janine nearly stole a koala

Thursday was the last day with our car, we had to drop it back at 5.30 so we stayed pretty close to the city. Luckily this meant a trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Janine had been before but was happy to go again to get a photo of me holding a koala. There are a few other animals and attractions there too, it's not all koalas. We watched a few of the shows, which were entertaining, but the best was the birds of prey show. They fly the owls and falcons from behind the audience so they swoop down right past your head. It was very impressed with how close you could get, not like the UK.

The main reason to come was the koalas though. We spent ages walking round the various enclosures. I had my obligatory photo holding one, he was holding on so tight I thought his claws were going to rip the skin off my shoulder. Janine forced me to hang around long enough for feeding time, turns out this is the best time as they are really active. This is because their eucalyptus diet is very low energy food, I'm not sure why the don't have a Red Bull, perks most people up! We 'happened' to be next to the mother and baby pen when the feeding was taking place. It was hard to tear Janine away as she was in cuteness overload.

We spent longer than planned at the sanctuary so ditched the idea of a walk and drove up to Mt Coot-Tha. There are spectacular views of the city and a cool cafe and restaurant. We chilled out for a hour or so with a cold drink as the temperature had been above 30°C all day.

We dropped the car off back in the city and met up with Alex who we are staying with for a few days. Her and Adam have bought a cool place in the city. We spent the evening chatting about the grand plans for it. We will have to arrange another visit to keep up to date with the progress.

Friday its was 33°C we had a lazy morning then took a walk to a local public pool. The dip was well needed, and we even managed to get in a few lengths.

Catching some prey

Barn Owl

Down in one - A Barking Owl swallowing a mouse

Nap time again, looks comfy

He's got tiny arms!

Just don't poo on me

Cute pic 1

Cute pic 2

Cute pic 3 - hanging out

Cute pic 4 - Janine wanted to take this one home

View from Mt Coot-Tha

Eumundi Markets and Noosa

Today we hired a little Hyundai i20 and took it up the Bruce Highway to Eumundi and its famous  Markets. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the many stalls. It's a real variety of crafts, foods, local produce and clothes. Janine could have spent a fortune but I am not sure any of the stuff would fit in a rucksack!

There's a jacket potato under there, seriously

Who wouldn't want a bag with a monkey on it?

Lloyd manages to find a (ginger) beer

After lunch we headed to Noosa for an afternoon on the beach. It was warm and sunny, perfect to try and get rid of the t-shirt tan... still not quite gone though. We hung around for sunset and watched some junior lifesavers in training. Then headed for a burger at the surf club. The drive home was uneventful but the night time views coming into Brisbane were amazing.

All too energetic for me

Something odd here