Everybody needs good neighbours.

Next stop was Melbourne and first on the list of things to do was the neighbours tour. So we booked it in ASAP and were soon waiting one morning for the van to pick us up.

No going incognito of this tour, it was soon packed and we headed off on the 30 min drive to the set, had a running commentary all the way. Neighbours facts, tit bits and just general chit chat about all things neighbours related. (A lot of Dr Karl the super doctor was mentioned here). We rocked up at the studio and got to looking around. The house were closed as filming was taking place but got to see lots of more places. Some of it was ruined a tad, we'd go past a plain door in the studio and that would be 'the school', the car park for the studio is what's filmed for the lassiters car park. I guess it makes sense but makes it seem less real. (I am aware it isn't real just to clarify)

Neat little fact for you, erinsborough is an anagram of neighbours!

Now this is where I own up and say it's been a while since actually watched neighbours. I tried to pick it up whilst in brisbane so I had a general idea what was happening. But some of the set I just didn't recognise, hopefully you guys do more?!

Now onto a part we all will recognise the street!! It's only a 5 minute drive from the studio and down such a non discript looking road. Once you drive up the cul-de-sac you know exactly where you are.

It's not actually called Ramsay street btw, that's just a gimmick to keep us tourist happy for pictures.

So one thing about the street, it was tiny! The tricks they use on camera to make it look bigger are seriously well done.

The last part of the tour was to meet and greet a current or past cast mate. Fingers were crossed that it would be someone I'd know, luck was in and it ended up being 'Stingray'. Pretty sure I stopped watching after he died, although whether those were correlated who knows? We got to meet him have some really awkward conversations and q&a's. Pictures and autographs later we were done for the day. Was a really good tour 100% recommend just to say you've done it!

 

 

Jucy campervan time

The great ocean road, is yes you guessed it a road that runs from melbourne to Adelaide. We wanted to do it properly so hired a campervan for 5 days. Another first for me but I had the feeling it be a little easier than tent camping and I wasn't too wrong.

This was our van/home for the duration, being that it's for 4 people we just about squeezed in with all our bags..

Being a tad crippled at this time definitely had it's advantages. You'll be please to know I'm now fully mended (fingers crossed) 

We made lots of stops on our way so see all the sights.

Weather was a bit English a lot of the time, we were running between the rain spots and being blown to pieces.

We did all love our van, although a few issues with the converting into a bed at night for me and Nik. It took both our weight and a lot of falling off to get sorted. Lucy also had a few issues with the rear view mirror on our last day. Thank you for masking tape!!

After the great ocean road we headed north to a national park called the grampians. A lot luckily with the weather here and spent a lovely sunny day climbing down and back up 200+ steps to see the waterfall.

Had a pretty cool 5 days, and I managed to survive just about. Still not keen on this old camping trick but I've officially ticked that all off the list.

Last little bits of Sydney

As I said we went fully tourist whilst in Sydney, not sure there was much we didn't do. But no fear it's all here in small bite sized chunks.

First up Bondi beach, possibly the biggest disappointment I've had whilst on the trip. Now don't get me wrong it's a lovely beach but I feel it's built up to be so much more. It almost felt quite englishly with lots of concrete and car parks. I much preferred Manley beach and it actually rained on us whilst there.

We headed up the sky tower observation point so get our 360 views of Sydney.

Maybe not quiet as stunning views as we got in surfers paradise, but pretty cool seeing the city up high and the shear volume of it. Sydney is definitely up there with some of my favourite spots in oz.

Now we didn't visit the Madame tussauds but I managed to get my Hugh Jackman fix, not the same as the real thing but good enough for me.

We really wanted to walk over the harbour bridge but once we found the actual price this was soon changed to just walking across it. It was super windy the day we went so kinda glad we were wobbling over the top.

For all you finding nemo fans, below is the dentist office which the film is based on (Mine mine mine).

We also spent an epic 30 mins of our last day getting soaked through on the oz jet boat. One of the best things we did, also didn't hurt that the driver was pretty to look at. I'm not sure if this worked in our favour as the three of got put in the front with him and took on most of the water on even turn and brake. Would fully recommend to anyone heading to sydney though.

So there you have pretty much everything we did in sydney except the very small amount of shopping and eating we did....