A trip to Ramsey Street

Our final trip with Bunyip was the Neighbours Tour that would take us to the sights of the famous Ramsey Street (or Pinot Court as it's really called). Yes, it's an actual street where regular people live!

For this trip we had to make our own way to the Bunyip office which was a good 35 minute walk from our hostel. We arrived early so stopped off at the café next door to share a croissant filled with cheese and ham - yummy.

The tour runs twice a day so we opted for the afternoon session after our two early mornings so we managed to get a nice lie in. Just before 12pm we took our seats on the 'Neighbours bus' before meeting our guide for the day who told us of some up-and-coming storylines that we won't reveal as Rach's Mum would go mad! We were given our complimentary postcards ready to meet a Neighbours 'star'. Rich was hoping for anyone he would recognise and Rach was hoping for a current cast member…a Dr Karl, Libby or Toadie.

Instead we were presented with a past cast member who half the bus were mistaking for someone else. It was the woman who played the character Janelle Timmons from a few years ago. She even had to explain who she was to the bus as everyone looked blankly at her. Rach vaguely remembered her when she described her family on the show. The guy in front refused to get off the bus to get his postcard signed because he felt 'betrayed' by Neighbours as it wasn't a current star. He eventually got off the bus but only to take a picture of his girlfriend and he refused to get his postcard signed as it would wreck it!

We had a photo and a nice chat with the lady (we can't even remember her name). Rich hoped to avoid the photo by taking pictures for other couples but this Janelle lady instructed him to get in (much to his delight!)

After this we made our way to the outside set of Neighbours. To entertain us for the half an hour journey the guide popped on a documentary celebrating Neighbours that was shown in the UK when Neighbours was moving from BBC 1 to channel five.

Before we knew it we pulled up to a site that looked like a factory. The guide explained how the front of these gates had been used for a variety of storylines doubling up as an animal testing plant, hospital, airport, prison and many other things. It is really clever how they use the little space and facilities they actually have to make it look like different locations.

After passing the security guard we made our way round the corner and entered a street that housed Grease Monkeys, Carpenters Motors, the Nightclub (from a few years back), the bus stop (complete with a real bus timetable) and many cars that have been used in the show like Susan Kennedy's sporty number that she ran over Bridget in a few years ago.

We noticed a BMW that had been smashed up as well as another car hidden in the garage that had been damaged so we are guessing that they may be involved in future storylines. Of course Neighbours is filmed four to five months in advance before it is aired then in the UK we have to wait another month or so before it is on so we may tune in when we are home to see what happens.
Just round the corner is the police station. This also doubles up as the University at the back of the police station. It's amazing how small the set is. It makes you wonder how hard it is to film when all the camera crew and cast are there. We got photos in front of Lassiters, Harold's store and Charlie's bar. In the garden area we found some ducklings before we made our way back to the bus.

There were new houses behind the set as Fremantle had recently sold the land so any hard-core Neighbours fan should place their interest now for great views of everything that goes on.

On next stop was Ramsey Street (aka. Pinot Court) where people actually live! The road is really small and looks bigger on TV due to filming techniques. All the numbers on the houses have to be changed for filming and the signpost at the end of the road has to be swapped. Apparently the people who live in the houses are given a percentage of the money from tours as well as a generous sum of money from Fremantle (who makes Neighbours) for the inconvenience of tours as well as having to move cars and stay inside during filming etc. They have a permanent security guard on duty as well having their gardens done regularly. On the flip side they cannot make any drastic changes to their houses and any changes have to be passed by Fremantle so they can write it in to the script.

One of the houses had painted cardboard on its window to look like corrugated metal that looked really realistic for a future story. It must be pretty annoying for the people that live there as it would block out their light though.
We don't know if we would like the intrusion of tours twice a day plus film crews but the people there are happy enough as they are all the same residents that lived there back when Neighbours first began.

We took photos of the houses as well as having a photo taken with the Ramsey Street sign our guide had in the minibus.

Despite advertising that we would drive past the school, this was no longer the case as scenes are now for the school are actually filmed at a block of flats because filming at a real school became too much of a problem with people walking past during filming. One girl on our tour group used to go to the school where they filmed and said it was great because they got to finish school early.
Now that the tour was over, we headed back to Melbourne city centre and decided

to look for the boat trip we had got in our free attraction pass. We finally made the elusive boat trip and made our way on the next boat to leave. We should have listened to the man on board that said we could get the Boat A trip instead which went south of the Yarra River towards the port. Instead we just got on the boat that was heading north. It makes you appreciate how clean the River Mersey is! The trip north took us past the Eureka Tower , the Olympic Swimming Pool (that has now been filled in), the MCG (Cricket ground) and other Melbourne attractions.

The captain/commentator did not seem to have a clue what to say and kept mentioning things that were not there anymore. He kept saying 'I haven't been here for years!' He even suggested that he stopped talking at one point!
At the first opportunity we got off the boat (like many other passengers) due to the driver's dodgy 'driving' skills when he was providing his commentary. He said it was too hard to talk and direct the boat at the same time!

We stayed in the city centre for a few hours to see if we could see the Casino's night event which involves massive fireballs being shot into the air along the front of the river but we wither missed it or were there on the wrong night. Nevertheless, it was lovely seeing the city in a different light with its floodlit streets and buildings. We don't know what it is about Melbourne but we love it and really want to return one day.

After a busy few days it was time to return to our hostel to bed ready for our last full day in the city we had come to love.