25/10/06 - 'Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours!' everyone sing along now!  Yes, you guessed it, I did the tour to Ramsay Street today.  Very cheesy bus ride, as we watched old episodes on DVD, saw Scott and Charlene's wedding, Des and Daphne's, etc, etc...  it was fab!  Also showed good old Kylie and Jason and their old pop careers!  The real street is called Pin Oak Court, it's used for the outdoor shots, the insides are studio sets, so the insides of the real houses are nothing like them (apparently, as of course we didn't see inside!)  The cul de sac seems a lot smaller than it appears on telly, got some good photos.  Feel sorry for the residents though, they have a security guard permanently in the street, to stop stupid fans trying to get into the houses.  Apparently, all residents but one are still the original residents from 20 years ago.  They signed up thinking the programme would only last a year!  20 years later, still going strong, they do get paid money, but still must be quite annoying to have the tour bus in there everyday!  We also stopped at Erinsborough High, but it's actually an English Language School.  The best part of the day though was in the car park at the studios (we couldn't go in though!) we got to meet Harold Bishop!!  He was soooo lovely, got his autograph and a nice photo of him and me. Aaah!  Great afternoon, a bit corny but good fun none the less!

26/10/06 - Got picked up at 7am for the Great Ocean Road day trip.  The driver didn't have my name on the list!!  He said to jump in anyway, but then I overheard him to the office and it was looking as if there wasn't going to be any room for me, the tour was full!!!  Anyway, by the time we got to the office everything had been sorted out, I still have no idea how, I can only presume someone cancelled or didn't turn up, as the girl at the desk had my name down and I got on the bus!!  It was a fab day, lots of driving, as it's a long way!!  Sights were fabulous, especially the 12 Apostles.  We also saw alot of wild kaolas and one with a cute little baby!  I also hand fed some parrots, or rather they just helped themselves from my hand!  The group were really nice.  The driver, Paul was lovely.  He is a fireman and moonlights about twice a month as a tour driver for extra money, as he now has a very young family.  He was a really nice guy, great sense of humour and looked after all of us very well.  I was shattered by the end of the day, was the last to be dropped off at 11pm!!  Good day though and good photos (you'll be able to see them one day!)

27/10/06 - Arranged to meet Fiona (who I met at Shelley's Hen Night and Wedding) in her lunch break.  She lives in Geelong, just outside the city.  We had a great natter over lunch, we get on so well, I love it when you meet someone new and you get on straight away, I felt so comfortable.  Afterwards she took me up to her office and the views over the city were great.  I also met some of her work colleagues, who were very nice ( I have to write this, as they are probably reading this, ha ha, only joking guys!) They work for the government, very secret squirrel, they couldn't tell me what they did, or they would have had to kill me! (I bet Fiona is laughing now!)  After that I did a bit of shopping, went back to say thanks to Shanyn, who had helped me with some skincare and makeup at Clinique counter before the wedding.  She was over the moon that I had made the effort.  Then I wandered down to the Docklands at the end of Bourke Street, but unfortunately the weather had turned for the worst and I was getting blown about a bit, so I then jumped on a tram to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) to look at doing a guided tour.  Unfortunately when I got there I had missed the last tour of the day (3pm), so I decided to go back to the Nunnery and do the tour the next day.

28/10/06 - Got up and made my way back to the MCG and got on the 11am tour.  It was really good.  Even though I'm not really a sporty person I really enjoyed the tour.  We went everywhere, backstage, changing rooms, physio rooms, media suites, the lot!  It was great!  Got some good piccies.  After that I jumped on a tram and went into St.Kilda.  I wandered along the seafront and then started to walk down the pier.  Again, the weather was rubbish and it was just too cold and windy for me to continue, it would have been fine if I had my winter stuff with me!!  So I got a tram back into Melbourne, wandered around the shops for a while, then went to Melbourne Museum.  I got in for free, bargain!, as I had a fab time.  The exhibits were fantastic, especially the catwalk of Australian native animals (stuffed ones of course!).  It was fascinating to see them all so close up and still so life like!  There was a human evolution exhibition too with lots of naked exhibits, it was fascinating, you could see inside all the workings of the human body.  However the cheesy highlight of the visit, was the 'Robinsons' kitchen from the set of Neighbours and low and behold, you opened the fridge and there was Scott and Charlene's wedding cake!!  Corny or what!  But everyone was loving it!  There was a kind of family tree on the wall too, explaining who lived in what house at what time, etc. and there were lots of 'old' photos and autographs, I felt like I was back in 1988!  It really is a great museum, well worth the visit and I got in free!  Got back to the Nunnery and packed, as checking out tomorrow.

29/10/06 - Checked out and walked down to Parliament train station with all my luggage, my arms were really aching.  Got the lift down to platform level to catch the train to Eltham, I was off to see family I had never met!  Got there in plenty of time, in fact early enough to get the train before the one I had planned to get!  Got into Eltham safely around 10.30am.  Fiona (cousin) picked me up at 11am (as originally planned) and we got on straight away.  We went to her house first, where I met her husband Colin, daughter Holly and son Mitchell.  Had a cup of tea and Fiona  and I were chatting about when she visited Scotland when she was a little girl and we were checking out names of who she had met and pieceing together who was related to who and in what way.  I said that if she met my Grandma then she must have met my Grandad, Chick.  Well as soon as I mentioned his name she lit up and got all excited and said that she remembered him and that he had sat and drawn pictures with her and that she still had them!  Well, I just welled up.  She ran and got them and it was just wonderful to think that this had happened.  She went to make photocopies for me, then when she came back, she gave me the originals!!  I thought this was a lovely gesture, thank you so much Fiona!  We then had to set off for the hour journey to her sister Sandra's house (also my cousin).  On the way we chatted and they showed me where they used to live with Uncle David and Ruby.  Got to Sandra's and met her and her husband Dave and children Jarod, Jade and Ryan.  Ruby (Fiona and Sandra's Mum, who I had met the other week) was there already too with her friend Mertyl, whom she had met on the ship over to Oz in 1957 and they had stayed friends ever since.  Colin and Dave had free tickets to a race day, so they went off to that for the afternoon.  Fiona went to pick up Uncle David.  Well, when he arrived I saw my Grandma in him straight away, it brought a lump to my throat!  He unfortunately is now suffering from dementia, so he doesn't always remember everyone.  We had lunch and just chatted the afternoon away.  Uncle David's wit showed through a few times and I showed him the one photo I had with me of me, Tracey and Mum.  He said what a good looking woman my Mum is!!  I explained who we all were, but I'm not sure he understood, but I caught him looking at me a few times across the table, as if he was trying to piece everything together.  He hadn't recognised Fiona when she went to collect him earlier and said he was waiting for his sister to collect him today and would only go with Fiona if his sister had sent her.  I was sad when the day came to an end, we had to go as I had to catch the Greyhound from the city at 8pm.  Before we left Sandra's I went with Fiona and took Uncle David back home.  We walked him down to his room and he started to get a bit confused.  We then walked him back down to the lounge area and he did a little Scottish dance on the way!  As Fiona and I were trying to get out of the coded front door, he asked me if I was going home to Dundee now, I think he thought I was someone else in the family.  He wanted to come with us, so we just had to keep walking out.  It was heartbreaking, I looked back from the car park and he had walked to the other door, probably trying to find his way out to us.  Fiona said this usually happened when he had been out for the day, he just gets confused and doesn't understand why you are leaving him.  Why does life have to be so cruel?  Said my goodbyes back at Sandra's, it was weird to think I may not see them again in the flesh, we got to Fiona's safely, picked up my stuff, then Fiona and Holly came with me to the station.  They stayed with me on the platform until the train came and we hugged each other and said goodbye.  I felt sad at leaving, but also warm inside at having had such a great day.  Thank you guys.  Got to Southern Cross station ok and eventually the overnight Greyhound (12 hours!) back to Sydney.  As we drove out of Melbourne, I felt quite sad at leaving this great city behind, I hope I do come back one day.