Nuts About Neighbours!

Ignored my alarm when it went off this morning and got up an hour later, again due to a slightly sleepless night. Remembering my plans for the day through my bleary-eyedness inspired me to get up and soon I was showered and dressed, packing my bag all for the excitement to come.

When I got outside and walked around the corner from the hostel (the right corner, once again!) I looked up and saw an immense black cloud, so decided it might be best to go back and pick up my umbrella, just in case! If I had it but didn’t need it that would be far better than needing it and not having it!

I popped into Maccas on my way into town, for a quick drink and an equally quick surf, before continuing on my journey, deciding to walk and not take the tram as I had plenty of time and would enjoy the walk – despite the dark cloud I had seen on leaving the hostel, no further sign of it ensued and instead it was very sunny indeed. Perambulating around Melbourne is pretty interesting and very varied (once you have the hang of it and don’t get lost!), especially when you pass through the different sectors. I arrived at the tour office at 12.00, with plenty of time to spare, so just chilled out (not online for a change!) looking at some of the props, photos and signage from everyone’s favourite street.

Half an hour later we were herded onto the Neighbours Tour bus and began our journey to ‘Erinsborough’! Our guide/driver was Sophie, a girl from Wales, and the vast majority of those of us on the bus were from the UK – I think 4 out of 24 were Aussie, the rest Brits! Along the way, Sophie told us lots of interesting facts about Neighbours – for example Erinsborough is an anagram of Neighbours, only they are Aussies so don’t entirely understand the concept of anagrams which meant they added an extra ‘o’ and ‘r’ to make it work better, people stay the same age in Ramsey Street until the writers see fit to increase their ages – usually because a party is necessary in the script, the number of extraordinary things that happen to these everyday people is incredibly unfortunate! To highlight this, Sophie put a DVD on for us of the episode where Toadie marries Dee and then they drive off a cliff!

Our first visit was to Erinsborough High School which was a bit underwhelming to be honest, because it really didn’t look like it and they don’t shoot there anymore, but a few bits were a bit more recognisable, albeit without the EH crest above the main door or on the front gate!

Next stop was the studio, where we got to walk around outside Grease Monkeys, the Bric-a-brac store and Carpenter’s Mechanics (I don’t know if they use these sets anymore, they’re pretty old-school!) but we also saw a new set they have just finished (I don’t think it’s been aired yet), but sadly we couldn’t go into the new Lassiter’s set as they were using it. We also saw all the cars from the street – including Libby’s and Susan’s, but I wouldn’t have known that if they hadn’t pointed them out to me! Sophie also showed us where they use the general exterior of the studio building for generic shots – when it’s supposed to be the hospital, police station etc.

After that we headed just five minutes around the corner to Pin Oak Court – aka RAMSEY STREET! It really was a lot smaller than it looks on tv! We got out of the bus and wandered around the street – they had been filming there in the morning, so if I had been on the earlier tour I wouldn’t have been able to go up the street at all. Each of the six houses looks the same as on tv, only Sophie pointed out that the number of each of the houses was different to its corresponding house on the show. Their letter boxes each have the actual number (eg ‘2’) on the right hand side, leaving them the space to screw the additional ‘2’ in front of it. We all enjoyed being on ‘the street’ and listening to some more facts about the show. I couldn’t believe I was standing in the same spot as where Kylie and Jason once had! Eeek! It made me want to start watching again properly (I have seen a couple of episodes so far along my travels).

Next, Sophie took us to St Kilda, showing us the rest of the drama of Toadie’s wedding and also a documentary about the show. Once at St Kilda, we hopped off the bus (right next to Luna Park) and there to meet us was Patrick Harvey the actor who played Connor O’Neill (the Irish one who was friends with Toadie) a few years ago. We chatted to him for a bit, got photos and autographs, before once again getting back on the bus and heading back to the city, watching the rest of the documentary along the way.

Once back we said our goodbyes and I waltzed off with a spring in my step – I’ve been to Ramsey Street!!! Feeling upbeat, I thought I would seize the moment, so popped into Peterpans and booked my flight to New Zealand and also the first leg of my NZ bus tour. That done, I jumped on a tram down to Federation Square, where I went and enquired about transport to the GP and picked up some maps of self-guided walking tours.

Looking at the time and still feeling quite energetic, I selected a walk to do – along the Yarra River, past things of sporting significance and along to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was a lovely walk, although it was a bit perilous as it was a bit of a game of chicken walking along the paths, with pedestrians, cyclists and runners all vying for a space!

The walking tour itself took me past the Melbourne equivalent of the London Eye (a bit like Brisbane’s but even more underwhelming!) and lots of sculptures. Whilst stood looking at the wheel, I could hear tranquil sounds but did not know where they were coming from. I figured it must be the general Zen-like serenity inside my head, but then read a bit further in my walking guide and realised it was actually the sound of the Federation Bells, which I then came upon – an array of bells on poles which seem to sound in a purposeful, beautiful tune, although I am yet to find out how they work! Next to the calmness of the bells was a rather contradictory space – Speakers’ Corner, the difference between this and our own Speakers’ Corner in London being that you don’t have to bring a soap box or milk crate, they have mounds there, ready to be spoken from.

Next was a lot of sport stuff – the place where a bit racquet sport event is held, the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), Olympic Park and some other sporty things which I took photos of but not really knowing what the hell they were and not really caring either. Sport places of significance to people other than me. I won’t tell any Aussies that I said that!

The walk then took me across the bridge and into the Botanical Gardens. The walk through was pretty, obviously the gardens were not a patch on somewhere like Kew, but it was the greenest space I have been to so far and the ornamental lake was pretty – made from original turns in the river. It was also possible to see the Governor’s house, which looked quite magnificent against the backdrop of the gardens.

Back out onto the path next to the river and I walked a way along ‘The Tan’ – a dirt running track which seemed very popular. By this time, it was about 6pm, so people would have gotten home from work and were now onto their fitness regime – very popular it seems amongst the Aussies! Along the river itself I then came across a lot of barbeques – for public use, so as to sit and enjoy an evening meal whilst overlooking the river. I thought that seemed like a nice idea and saw one family doing exactly that. I also noticed that as well as being peak time for recreational jogging, it also seemed the prime time for rowing training – with boat after boat flying past, with a man on a bike cycling along next to it, barking instructions down a loud haler! This was then cemented by finding a selection of boat clubs as I neared the point where I had started.

I crossed the river once more and found myself back at Federation Square, both rather hot and quite tired! After walking a little way along the direction towards the hostel, I decided a quick drink was in order (in Maccas!) along with a quick surf.

The rest of my walk took me through Chinatown and as I passed each of the food-outlets, the smells invited me in, but I resisted... for a while. By the time I was nearing the top end of Chinatown, I could resist no longer so resolved to stop and have some dinner, this proved difficult as each place I passed was packed out with people (a good sign!). I had given up hope when I came to the end of the Chinatown run, but then came across one place all by itself. It looked nice enough so I went in and ordered my food from a lady speaking very little English, using a menu of pictures and words written in a symbolic language I couldn’t determine! I got lucky and the noodle dish that arrived was rather nice.

I noticed that it was now dark outside and was surprised when I realised it was almost 9pm. When I had first arrived and gone for my walk on Monday, I had passed a tiny pub that looked cool and the sign had mentioned live music, so I thought it might be a good idea to pop in there on the way back to the hostel.

As I neared the Drunken Poet music emanated from the open door, I went in and immediately saw the person who was creating the sounds - a beautiful girl with a keyboard. I sat at the bar and enjoyed listening to her sing, whilst supping on a pot of Coopers. Her name was Ann Vriend and she sang several songs, mostly her own, interspersed with telling us the stories behind her songs, about life in Canada and being on the road touring. The pub itself turned out to be an Irish pub, run by a really lovely woman called Siobhan. I decided to try a Guiness, she guaranteed it was the best you can get in Melbourne – as close to the Guiness from home as it is possible to get. It was indeed not bad at all and I chilled out chatting to Siobhan and an Irish guy called Jimmy who told me all about the music scene in Melbourne.

Feeling slightly weary and realising that my feet were now complaining about how weary they also were, I headed back to the hostel and to bed.