23 March 2009

After a short stopover in Sydney we caught an early flight to Melbourne for a flying visit. We ended up at Avalon airport which is very small and quite far out the city centre which we realised was why the flight was so cheap. We eventually worked out how to organise a shuttle bus to the city centre and were dropped off at our hostel. In true traveller spirit we had decided to go for the cheapest dorm possible which turned out to be a 14 person dorm!. If you thought my room was messy mum you would be in for a shock. It looked like someone had been living there for a years by the amount of clothes and possessions on the floor. After we got over the initial shock we thought we would make the best of it as we were only there for two nights and headed out to look round the city. Melbourne has a free tram around the city centre which tourists can hop on and off for free which also has a running commentary of the sites you are passinig as you go. We found this a really useful way to get aquainted with the city and decided to hop off at the river. We then went on a lovely river cruise which took you past all the sites and the driver chatted to all the passengers (Only about 6 of us) about their travels and where they were from. Turned out he was a fan of the Bill and kept on saying 'Ello Ello Ello' in a very bad english accent. It was really good fun though. We attempted to walk back the hostel and got very lost but at least we had a good bit of exercise. In the evening we headed out to China town for a meal, we were finally getting our taste for chinese food back after our stay in China and it was much easier to ask about the seasame in English! We then headed back to the hostel as we had an early start in the morning as we were heading off to Ramsey street!

24 March 2009

We were picked up bright and early for our tour and dropped off at the Neighbours offices in Melbourne. As soon as we boarded the neighbours bus we were greeted by speakers blaring out 'especially for you' by kylie and jason!. The guide greeted us all on the bus by saying 'Yes, this is the cheesiest tour you will ever go on in your whole life'. He was completely neighbours obsessed and knew absolute everything about the show past and present. We also watched a classic neighbours episode where toadie and dee get married but unfortunately drive off a cliff and she is never seen again. Our first stop on the tour was Erinsborough High which is actually a normal school used solely for extrerior shots on the show. We were only able to drive around the perimeter as he explained rules are very strict now in regards to filming. The actors are not actually able to enter the school at all so you will never see a child enter the doors of erinsborough high on the show they just hang around outside. After the school we headed to the studios to meet one of the cast members. We weren't really too excited about this part as we had a feeling it would be a current character and seeing as we hadn't watched the show since uni we would have no idea who they were. Unfortunately, we were right and it was the actor who plays Lucas. No idea who he is but apparently he has quite good storylines at the moment and rides a motorbike. Either way he was very pleasant and we had our photo taken with him anyway. Finally we went to the the street itself otherwise known as Pin Oak Close. When we arrived the guide pulled out the Ramsey street sign from under one of the chairs and then passed it round so we could all take our photos at the various houses. It kind of ruined the illusion but was really good fun. The actual street was really small and only has 6 houses which all the characters somehow manage to live in! Our favourites were Karl and Susan's house and the House of Trousers where Toadie lives. The guide explained that the street now has 24 hour security as the real life residents were being harrassed by neighbours fans. Apparently, fans used to knock on the door and ask for Harold and get very annoyed when they were told he didn't actually live there. The security man was keeping a good eye on us all so that no one went too close to the houses.

After the excitement of the neighbours tour we headed back to the city and visited The Old Gaol which is one of Australias oldest prisons. It is particularly famous for being the prison where bushranger Ned Kelly was executed. The tour of the prison was quite interesting as it involved actually being arrested by a polic officer/actor and locked in a cell. We were all charged with a crime, mine was assualt with a dangerous weapon and Lucy's was Stalking! Finally we had a mugshot taken and then had the chance to look round the cells and other artifacts. That evening we headed back to the hostel for some dinner and entered the hostels trivia night for something to do. The man organising it had to make more question papers for us as we joined late so he wasn't a fan of ours. He then added that 'we probably wouldn't win anyway' as we were a team of two girls and the rest of the teams were massive. With a new found determination we got down to the quiz and eventually came 2nd! We were very pleased with ourselves but not so happy with prize which was shots and jugs of beer. As we had our flight back to Sydney the next day we gave away some of the beer and headed to bed proud of achievement!