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September 10th 2010

Published: September 10th 2010

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bearsinaustralia

Ramsay Street

Karl and Susan's house

Hi all,
Been a busy few days indeed! In Sydney now but haven't had the chance to explore yet (apart from a cheeky Harbour Bridge pic), we wanted to update on the Melbourne blog though.
Got to Melbourne Sunday evening and was only a short walk to our very nice hotel (for a budget hotel anyway!). Went out for a cheeky chinese in the Crown food court and as we were walking along noticed a poster advertising a Leo Sayer concert - only for the man himself to walk by! Didn't get a pic though.
We woke up early to make the most of the day as we only had two full days in Melbourne, which was a shame as we both liked the city. Went for a walk around before getting picked up for our Phillip Island tour, and around 45 mins outside of Melbourne was our first stop. Can you guess what it was?? Yeah, a winery! After some lovely cheese, wine and olives we went on to something even tastier - a Chocolate Factory! Delicious, and plenty of free samples too :D Then we went to a Koala Sanctuary but unfortunately didn't see many, and only got to

Crown complex by the Yarra River

hug one of them (and he was really cuddly). The highlight of the day however was when we got to see Phillip Island's most famous residents - the Little Penguins. At the 'Penguin Parade', at sunset, you can watch the hundreds of tiny cute things waddle up to shore in packs as they arrive back from their day out at sea fishing. The count for the day before we went was 633, so we saw around about the same number. They really were the cutest little things! We weren't allowed to take any photos here though as the flash stuns the little creatures, so unfortunately just pictures of pictures in the visitor centre to show, and some of them out in the wild from during the day.
Wednesday, well that was a cheesy day - oh yes. We headed for Ramsay Street! Carpenters Mechanics, Grease Monkeys, Karl Kennedy's car - all the Neighbours faves! We headed to the studios first of all and even saw some filming, way in the distance (couldn't make out any storylines though), and then met one of the actors - the guy who plays Lucas Fitzgerald. We drove past Erinsborough High School (where Kylie was

Chinese tea

a cheerleader!) to Pine Oak Crescent, the actual name of the street which we see as Ramsay Street on the tele. It looks much smaller in real life but we did actually recognise the houses! We also found out about an up coming storyline - Paul Robinson gets pushed off a building (and we saw said building!), but we don't know who by...
That afternoon we took a tour of the impressive MCG Cricket Ground, which was set up for the AFL (Australian Football) Finals which are held there this coming weekend. We took a creepy walk around the Melbourne Gaol and learnt all about outlaw Ned Kelly, amongst other nasty convicts. Then we headed over to the Eureka Skydeck - a massive skyscraper with an observation deck way up high - for some impressive views of the city as it went from day to night.
And that was our stay in Melbourne! Wish we could have stayed there longer as we really liked the place, but our disappointment at leaving was cushioned by the fact that we were heading for Sydney! Going off to explore now, the Zoo beckons and then it's the Bridge Climb tomorrow (eek!).
Hope all