Everybody Needs Good Neighbours

Manda writes:

A trip to Melbourne would not be complete for any Neighbours fan without stopping off at Ramsay Street, aka Pin Oak Court in real life (for those unfamiliar with Neighbours, it is a popular soap opera). Admittedly, I was an avid fan in the late 80s when Charlene and Scott were in it, as well as Nel Mangel, Plain Jane Superbrain and Bouncer, the dog who was often told to 'rack off'. It was on this show that I would pick up some select Australian phrases (such as 'fair dinkum', 'dag' etc) - not only an entertaining show but an educational one no less!

In recent years, I have lost the plot (well, in a manner of speaking) as I have not been watching the soap on a routine basis and was only vaguely aware that the Kennedys, Toadfish, Lou and Harold were still in it. However, since being in Australia, I have been tuning in again and am now able to put names to faces of some of the 'newer' characters. My interest in the soap has picked up again, especially after today's visit to the street.

This small, ordinary-looking street is Pin Oak Court, better known to millions of Neighbours fans as Ramsay Street.

The street itself is a lot smaller than I had expected, although the houses themselves were instantly recognisable. There were several cars parked on the cul-de-sac; mainly residential ones but I noticed a chap getting out of one of the cars and looked like he was delivering filming schedules to each of the houses. Naturally, I was walking around, doing circles of eight, trying to catch his attention in the hope of getting an extras part (hey, I'm not fussy!) but all my efforts were to no avail! Maybe he was just some random postman doing his job and was as confused as anything seeing me at every turn! Oh well, it was worth a try.

Manda and Ethel fail to score parts as extras on Neighbours.

Apparently, there is an opportunity to meet some of the cast members with a tour organiser every Monday night at a Melbourne pub. Unfortunately, we had to miss this (otherwise we'd have to wait around for five more days in Melbourne) and instead made tracks for Adelaide. We made a start on the less direct but more scenic route along the Great Ocean Road which we picked up from Geelong, getting as far as Wye River before setting up camp for the night. We were the only people there - it looks like we had left the 'Neighbours' behind in Melbourne.