The Location Thread

[lozlovesh&a]

So noticed a new entrance to summer bay house where roo and alf etc live. Where is it? Looks really pretty.

Feel free to move this if in wrong section.

[Fabulous_Jordyn]

Tonight's episode featured scenes with Roo and Alf on the verandah of Summer Bay House and a lovely shot of Alf driving up to the house and Oscar, Spencer et al walking up to the house.

I love seeing the exterior again! I loved the old one and do miss the bushiness of it, but you can't help bushfires.....

Same here!! So happy they are filming outside scenes. The views look great!

[joany208121]

We saw in Wednesday's episodes (tonight) and a bit last night that they have a new exterior set. They have just made the door that was usually offscreen next to the bottom of the stairs visible again (the one Spencer almost opened). The original door (near the laundry/table) is just located near the back of the exteriors we saw today (when Spencer left with chris).

The door near the base of the stairs was occasionally used in the early years and I like that it has been brought back. The new house looks extremely good, and similar to the original especially with the veranda. I just do not like the landscape that has been used as it has a field and trees that don't fit in with the previous caravan park exteriors. It also doesn't look like anything that has been used in the past, and may confuse viewers later. But I congratulate them on finding an exterior for the SBH after the original burnt, and we haven't had a replacement.

[aussiesoapfan]

I think it looks great too. I'm glad they are able to film at the original location again. The back door (with the screen door) near the laundry looks as if its had a change. The porch area where the coats hang on looks bigger. I wonder if that's to match the real life house or not. The door is still pink, I wonder if they'll change it to grey to match the exterior doors. I had a look on streetview but its still the same - as in you cant see anything beyond the gates. Looking forward to seeing more

Edited February 4, 2015 by aussiesoapfan

[alexx]

We saw in Wednesday's episodes (tonight) and a bit last night that they have a new exterior set. They have just made the door that was usually offscreen next to the bottom of the stairs visible again (the one Spencer almost opened). The original door (near the laundry/table) is just located near the back of the exteriors we saw today (when Spencer left with chris).

The door near the base of the stairs was occasionally used in the early years and I like that it has been brought back. The new house looks extremely good, and similar to the original especially with the veranda. I just do not like the landscape that has been used as it has a field and trees that don't fit in with the previous caravan park exteriors. It also doesn't look like anything that has been used in the past, and may confuse viewers later. But I congratulate them on finding an exterior for the SBH after the original burnt, and we haven't had a replacement.

Well it is the original landscape and house (that was rebuilt after the bushfire). It is sad to see how all of those old trees surrounding the house were obviously burnt down, now there is a huge view of the land, whereas before it used to be covered up by the dense bush,

The last time we saw Summer Bay House in the show it was still a older style, slightly run down building and that was part of the charm. But since then there have been new characters living in it and as was pointed out earlier in the thread, houses like SBH would have to have been cleaned up during 12 years. I think it's great that they've reintroduced the house again even if it doesn't quite look the same, it actually IS the same location so it's the very best that we could hope for and it's great that whoever made the decision thought that the house was important enough to bring it back (it should never have been absent for so long, but perhaps there were reasons we are unaware of).

I also noticed that the porch area is a lot bigger than it used to be (when Roo was on the phone in Wed's episode) so I'm half expecting to see a large porch outside the house, whenever we next see it.

I hope that the caravan park can be rebuilt where it used to be, fifty or so metres away from the house. So that we can see the house in the distance during caravan park scenes and the caravan park from the house like the old days.

Edited February 4, 2015 by alexx

[Dan F]

The front door has continued to be used on occasion throughout the years as you saw people entering from the hallway, we just didn't see that fourth wall the door was on (though there's something in my mind telling me we saw a hint of it a couple of years ago....)

I also noticed that the porch area is a lot bigger than it used to be (when Roo was on the phone in Wed's episode) so I'm half expecting to see a large porch outside the house, whenever we next see it.

I'm not quite sure what they're going to do with that. As you'll recall, that corner of the verandah was filled in on the old house (it was a laundry) and the porch sat on the outside of that. One of the very few changes they made to the exterior when they rebuilt it was to remove the old laundry so that the verandah continues around that corner.

There are 2 sets of french doors on that side of the house now, opening onto the verandah, but it wouldn't match the interior anymore. So it'll be interesting to see if they do use that side and if they do anything to hide the changes.

[c120701]

The front door has continued to be used on occasion throughout the years as you saw people entering from the hallway, we just didn't see that fourth wall the door was on (though there's something in my mind telling me we saw a hint of it a couple of years ago....)

I also noticed that the porch area is a lot bigger than it used to be (when Roo was on the phone in Wed's episode) so I'm half expecting to see a large porch outside the house, whenever we next see it.

I'm not quite sure what they're going to do with that. As you'll recall, that corner of the verandah was filled in on the old house (it was a laundry) and the porch sat on the outside of that. One of the very few changes they made to the exterior when they rebuilt it was to remove the old laundry so that the verandah continues around that corner.

There are 2 sets of french doors on that side of the house now, opening onto the verandah, but it wouldn't match the interior anymore. So it'll be interesting to see if they do use that side and if they do anything to hide the changes.It looks to me like they've extended the porch on the interior set so that it goes past the interior set's laundry window. That porch was quite iconic in a way so I'm sad to see it changed but it's worth it to get the exterior back plus the interior all of a sudden seems flooded with the artificial daylight, which I love. I hope the join the trellis up with the back wall on the porch though as there was big gap in between. But if that whole built out part of the house has gone they'd need to do a bit of work to cover that up or just not show that side as they've been doing.

I do view it as a good sign though that they've made the effort to get the location back, especially given that it's quite a distance from Palm Beach and the studios. Just had a look at it's just over an hour in light traffic from Redfern but throw in City traffic and it'd be longer, whereas it was 40 minutes from Epping so it's quite a change to production.

Edited February 4, 2015 by c120701

[Dan F]

I do view it as a good sign though that they've made the effort to get the location back, especially given that it's quite a distance from Palm Beach and the studios.

Indeed, I won't use his exact words but when I was talking to a crew member in 2004 he did mention that it was a bit of a logistical nightmare filming there at times. Production has changed a lot since then though, and they've got a lot more room there now for all the production vehicles, so things should be a bit easier.

[c120701]

I do view it as a good sign though that they've made the effort to get the location back, especially given that it's quite a distance from Palm Beach and the studios.

Indeed, I won't use his exact words but when I was talking to a crew member in 2004 he did mention that it was a bit of a logistical nightmare filming there at times. Production has changed a lot since then though, and they've got a lot more room there now for all the production vehicles, so things should be a bit easier. And as I added above, that was in the days it was just down the road. But yeah, I suppose cameras are smaller these days as are location crews - I can imagine the trees on the old drive being a nightmare and them having to lug a lot of equipment about.

[John]

It would actually be fairly easy to "morph" the new Summer Bay house with the former one both exterior and interior using storylines. "We've had some renovations done", said Alf. This could be number in a number of small stages or in a larger reno.

When you think of it, it's actually not reasonable for an old timber house to remain the same over 27 years without at least a coat of paint ( or several ) and some renovations and upgrades.