Guilty Pleasures

Spent the morning on another walking tour around Melbourne. Mostly to the West of the CBD and exploring Fitzroy park. Great morning to do it as (for almost the only time that week) the sun came out and I strolled with my Hazelnut Latte through the green, the fairy tree, the model village, the street full of amazing (and occasionally political) grafitti.

Then I headed for my wonderfully cheesey afternoon spent visiting the sights of 'Neighbours'.

It was so much fun and, once I'd let go of the nagging embarrasment (lasted until we got on the bus!), I had a fabulous afternoon :) The guide was named Jerry (an Irish guy who'd been in the country for ages) and he clearly loved what he was doing which was very infectious - even for the Dad in front of me who was there to take the photo's of his wife and daughter who were the fans. The bus only holds around 15 people so the whole thing is quite a personal experiences. We had a family with small children, a few couples, friends and folks just travelling alone - they also came form all over the world - about half from Australia. Apparently the rumour about no Aussies watching it is false then....

We stopped off at the school where they used to film (and have changed location twice since then due to various reasons) then to the backlot of the studio, where we got to run around taking photos of the 'magical' bus stop, Grease Monkeys, Carpenters Mechanics and the new (not even on Australian screens yet) Erinsborough Motors. Alan Fletcher cam out to say "hi" and was very gracious and enthusiastic about seeing us, posed for photos, signed things and was generally a down to earth and top bloke :) After that we were whisked away to th street itself and reminded of some of the strange anomolies that happen there - like the fact that noone ever turns right out of the end of the road (Health & Safety!), and again got to run around taking photos and there were anecdots and explanations of filming aplenty. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Neighbours (especially the ones who won't admit it ;)) as a brilliant afternoon.

After the excitement I headed back to Fed. Square and had a mooch round the Moving Images Exhibition. Yet another triumph in design and information - it contained so much and (you guessed it) was free, I could easioly have spent another couple of hours there. It has displays about the development of the moving Images in all areas - film, TV and Computer Games. With some 'Spotlight' sections focussing on Australian individuals, loads of interactive stuff (including old and new games consoles) and looks at the future there was something for everyone and loads for a geek like me - even if seeing an N64 under a perspex cover was a bit disturbing!