Neighbours!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Thursday, 10 February 2011 18:20
We left Lorne on Saturday morning, and the plan was to head through Geelong to get to Melborne, however, the weather seemed to thwart our plans again! As I was checking out of the campsite I overheard a man saying that the road through Geelong was impassable due to flash flooding, and there was no way to get to Melbourne! So we headed to the information centre to find out what route to take, or if we had to stay put! Thankfully they told us the road was now open again but that we would need to take care and look for local signs. Luckily the road wasn't too bad, although flooded in the left lane often and you could see how much rain there had been, but we got to Melbourne in one piece! Found the nice campsite we stayed in last time and pitched the tent.
Sunday was NEIGHBOURS day! We had booked on the tour for 12pm, so got the tram in nice an early to find the place, which was easy so we had some time to kill. Wandered down the road and saw a big travel expo going on with free entry, so went to check that out. Got a free cotton bag each on the way in which comes in handy as a beach bag! There were stalls for all sorts of places, and since we are heading to NZ, Fiji and Hawaii we hit those ones! Some great info and brochures which we picked up, so that was great that we accidentally found that!
The Neighbours tour was amazing! We arrived and the weather was looking iffy, which disappointed me as I didn't want to visit Ramsay Street in the rain! Then it started to pour down when we got on the 
bus!!! The 'star' we got to meet was 'Janelle Timmons', who was in it a couple of years ago! Not Susan or Toadie, but still fun to meet her! She was great, talked lots about the show, and the people who played certain characters, and who her favourite was etc. We ended up going back into the office for that bit as the rain was so bad, and she posed for photos and signed neighbours postcards for us! She was great fun and there was definitely a bit of 'Janelle' in her!
bus!!! The 'star' we got to meet was 'Janelle Timmons', who was in it a couple of years ago! Not Susan or Toadie, but still fun to meet her! She was great, talked lots about the show, and the people who played certain characters, and who her favourite was etc. We ended up going back into the office for that bit as the rain was so bad, and she posed for photos and signed neighbours postcards for us! She was great fun and there was definitely a bit of 'Janelle' in her! So, back on the bus, which had a TV playing old Neighbours episodes! Our driver and guide was a lovely girl who had been a fan for life, and worked on the show in the arts department, and was now doing the tours! She gave us loads of gossip about up coming story lines and characters etc, which was great! She did check first that we didn't mind hearing any plot spoilers before she told us! Luckily as we drove the weather really cleared up and the sun came out so I was very happy! Because we were doing the weeken
d tour we got to visit the set of the Lassiters complex, where we saw the lake, Lassiters hotel, Harold's store, Toadie's Law Office and Charlie's Bar! I loved posing for photos outside each one, but it felt very surreal!!! It was so weird actually being there and walking around, but also knowing that there was actually nothing behind the door, as they film the inside stuff in the studios! We also got to see the Garage, Grease Monkey's and the Police Station, and a new set they have built which hasn't aired yet, Sonya's Grandma's house!
d tour we got to visit the set of the Lassiters complex, where we saw the lake, Lassiters hotel, Harold's store, Toadie's Law Office and Charlie's Bar! I loved posing for photos outside each one, but it felt very surreal!!! It was so weird actually being there and walking around, but also knowing that there was actually nothing behind the door, as they film the inside stuff in the studios! We also got to see the Garage, Grease Monkey's and the Police Station, and a new set they have built which hasn't aired yet, Sonya's Grandma's house! After the tour, with lots more info and gossip, we headed to the actual Street!!!!
We pulled up and some friend's of the real resident of Harold's house were leaving, so the woman who owns it was stood in the drive! So strange! We had to wait until she'd gone inside before we took pictures. So we went about having photos in front of all the houses and holding the 'Ramsay Street' sign (the real street is called Pin Oak Court)! I loved every second of it! My favourite picture is Ben and I under the trellis of Karl and Susan's garden! I am so pleased we got to do this!
We pulled up and some friend's of the real resident of Harold's house were leaving, so the woman who owns it was stood in the drive! So strange! We had to wait until she'd gone inside before we took pictures. So we went about having photos in front of all the houses and holding the 'Ramsay Street' sign (the real street is called Pin Oak Court)! I loved every second of it! My favourite picture is Ben and I under the trellis of Karl and Susan's garden! I am so pleased we got to do this!
On Monday and Tuesday we didn't really get up to much, lazing in the sun by the pool and Ben swimming in it! On Wednesday we had a great night out with friend's who have been travelling in Oz too. A couple from Ben's work, and the Uni days and their friends and partners too. We met at the night market, consumed a lot of wine and had a great night out! Unfortunately we both suffered the next day and felt rough as rats! We met up with the crowd again for lunch and hung out in the city for the afternoon, then it was back to the campsite to jump in the pool to refresh! Spent a couple more days in Melbourne than planned, as Ami and Pete who had come for the night out were also camping at the same place, which was nice! Had some good evenings with a box of wine and card games! We left Melbourne on Sunday morning and it was cold and overcast. We are heading inland to go through Canberra and onto the coast at Bateman's Bay to follow it up towards Sydney. we looked in the Big 4 book for places to stay and chose a campsite near Wodonga, and we're so glad we ended up here! It's a beautiful campsite right on the waters edge of Lake Hume, and also has a great swimming pool, it reminds us of being in Mexico! The weather here was so dramatically different, blue sky, sunshine and super hot! We had a lovely afternoon by the pool and it was so hot that even I had to get in!
Monday morning we got up early to Skype with Carol and Mike and then hit the road. It was great to speak to them and see them, and we managed to get over the signal problems in the end! After the skype chat we decided that it was such a nice day and we didn't want to spend it in the car, so we booked in for one more night! So, we've had another lovely day by the pool! Ben has been busy emailing and calling people for a job, as it is becoming a bit of a desperate situation now, but hasn't had much luck which is a shame. Seems that there are lots of newly qualified's around, and lots of people on the sunshine coast were made redundant, and with the flooding, it's not making the job searching very fruitful! Sure something will work out!
Sarah x
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