It’s now been over five years since I went to a country other than the one where I was born and raised, and that itself was in January 2020. Back in March 2019 I visited Australia for just under two weeks, and it was an unbelievably busy trip. The main reason for the visit was to see my eldest sister’s family, and my parents who were visiting at the same time. A few other family members as well as some friends from various parts of my past were also met. There is way too much stuff to include in this compilation post so this is just what I consider to be the best of the filming locations, sights, eateries, friends and family, old haunts and live sport!

On the back of an overnight flight, I had an early lunch and looked around some architecture in Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD) before heading off to my sister’s house. Within a few hours I was taking my nephew to an A-League match which was a wonderful experience and one I still remember vividly. I have since become quite a regular watcher of Victory matches which are shown live on YouTube in territories without an A-League contract. More details here.

The following day the two of us went to another sporting event albeit one on a much bigger global scale. The opening race of the 2019 Formula One season took place at Albert Park in St Kilda so we took in that race at a mix of locations with the majority of them being the various big TV screens dotted around the circuit. More details here.

I had a day in Melbourne by myself on day three where I went into the city centre for lunch, a look around and hunted down some filming locations from the likes of ‘Ghost Rider‘ (2007), ‘Knowing‘ (2009), ‘Killer Elite‘ (2011) and the church where Scott and Charlene got married back in ‘Neighbours‘ in the late 80s. More details here.

On day four I flew off to Sydney early one morning and immediately took a bus on arrival north to Palm Beach which is where Aussie soap ‘Home & Away‘ is filmed. More details here.

 My friend Ruth, who I first met when travelling around Australia as a backpacker in 2001-02, lives with her husband and kids near there and so we met up later for a few hours. More details here.

Back in Bondi later that evening I met up with two friends from university to roll back the old days by drinking far more beer than was necessary! More details here.

I had to get up very early the following morning (with a slight hangover!) in order to see all the places I needed to before my early evening flight back to Melbourne. It would be rude not to see the Opera House but it was only from across the harbour on a drizzly morning this time.

The Chinese Garden of Friendship was my first port of call as they featured in two movies; ‘The Wolverine‘ (2013) and ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert‘ (1994).

The afternoon was spent at Bonna Point Reserve which is really out on a limb in the far southern parts of Sydney, some two hours from the CBD. Just a few weeks before my trip  I found out that it had been used for some “Nagasaki” scenes in ‘The Wolverine‘ (2013). I certainly wasn’t expecting to find too much but if I didn’t go then I’d always be curious. It proved to be a fruitless trip in that sense.

The wonderfully-named You Yangs are some low-lying mountains in a scenic natioanl park. They are located quite close to Avalon Airport in Victoria but I actually returned to my sister’s place the night before and then went back to that area the next morning to meet up with ex-colleague Mark who is now an acclaimed horror writer. More details here.

Later that afternoon I was dropped off in Geelong where I met up with my uncle and aunt as well as my sister and the kids for a lovely family reunion. More details here.

There was another family meet-up the next day when I met my cousin Dan for a liquid lunch in the city centre.

A quick meet up with friend Ayako in a bar at Southern Cross station followed that.

That night I saw a very entertaining Aussie Rules game at the MCG. More details here.

The weekend was all spent with the kids and my sister doing normal family things like school athletics, dining out, playing board games and a quick trip to Brighton Beach.

A pilgrimage to Nunawading to visit Pin Oak Court; the cul-de-sac which portrays Ramsay Street in ‘Neighbours‘, was my first port of call on my penultimate day. It was my fifth visit in five different years! More details here.

I then met up for lunch at Don Don (a Japanese chain restaurant) with my friend Haruka who had (at that time) just moved down to Melbourne having spent a fair bit of time in Brisbane.

The plan was to have a week down under before my parents arrived and then spend a few days with them. Sadly a mix-up with the correct dates meant I only had a day with them before I had to return to Tokyo but as they joked, that was more than long enough!! More details here.

My eldest sister’s family recently came to stay with us in Tokyo for a few nights which was really wonderful but with all the kids growing up quickly such family travels are likely to soon become a thing of the past thereby making memories like these ones from Australia even more cherished.

Click here to read ‘TF Flashback: Back To Australia To See Family, Revisit Some Old Melbourne Haunts & Go To Tasmania For The First Time (2007)’

Click here to read ‘Farewell Neighbours! Looking Back On My 5 Trips To Ramsay Street In 5 Different Years!’

Click here to read ‘It’s 20 Years To The Day Since My Travel Days Began But Are They Now Over?’

Click here to read ‘A Fox Down Under – My 2001-02 Journal Is Now Online!’