The Location Thread

[c120701]

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.

It's a stone house at the bottom, which is probably the only reason the rest was rebuilt as that survived the fire.

[John]

I think the advantages of having such an iconic location back in regular use greatly outweigh any small continuity issues.

[c120701]

I think the advantages of having such an iconic location back in regular use greatly outweigh any small continuity issues.

I agree, but these changes do often seem to come at a time when the characters would be least likely to change things given what is going on in their story.

[Dan F]

Posted something like this before, but for those who aren't as familiar with the location, this comparison best shows the effect that the fire had on the land and the changes that have been made. You only have to look at my avatar to see the effect those trees had on the outlook.

Of course it's worth remembering that it may well be a conscious decision to keep the immediate surrounding of the house clear of trees, to prevent the same thing happening again. Whilst the original driveway is hidden in the trees in the first pic, you can see the path it took in the 2nd pic, where it now joins up with the new driveway that passes in front of the house.

And for those interested, the Caravan Park is now located in the paddock on the lower left of the 2nd pic. You can just make out the original caravan park in the first pic to the rear of the house.

[John]

Posted something like this before, but for those who aren't as familiar with the location, this comparison best shows the effect that the fire had on the land and the changes that have been made. You only have to look at my avatar to see the effect those trees had on the outlook.

Of course it's worth remembering that it may well be a conscious decision to keep the immediate surrounding of the house clear of trees, to prevent the same thing happening again. Whilst the original driveway is hidden in the trees in the first pic, you can see the path it took in the 2nd pic, where it now joins up with the new driveway that passes in front of the house.

If New South Wales is the same as Victoria and I suspect it is, changes to Building Regulations in the wake of fires now require construction or reconstruction to satisfy Building Attack Level requirements to get a Building Permit.

Just looking at your pictures Dan I think the original house in its original setting would have been considered to be a the "Flame Zone". In that case reconstruction would not have been allowed without extensive vegetation management to create a buffer zone around the house. The metal roof was probably also a part of those requirements.

The re-siting of the caravan park may also have been effected by those requirements.

[Dan F]

I knew you'd be the man to know John

The house was well over 100 years old when it burnt down, so there was an awful lot of trees that wouldn't have been there when it was first built - even if they were still standing and the regulations weren't so, they'd have probably had to remove a lot anyway just to be able to get to rebuild it.

As I say, we'll hopefully be providing a lot more history on the property in the near future

[beau_t]

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.

To be fair, the old way, it never matched the interior set anyway.

They have definitely increased the size of the lattice side porch on the interior set now and it does go back a lot further than it used to too. I suspect they will have a replica one that they will put up when filming at the exterior house, to disguise the fact that the veranda now goes all the way round. But we will see.

I wonder if it still has that hazardous looking steep climb directly in front of the house down to where the gate used to be (never liked the look of that personally!)

Edited February 4, 2015 by beau_t

[Dan F]

The embankment is still there but the 'steps' are long gone. Certainly no reason for them to use them now the new driveway is there (thankfully!)

Yeah thinking about it they could just stick a bit of trellis inside the verandah if they wanted to, though it might look a bit odd, and just frame it carefully to hide the other set of french doors. As a sidenote, the only part of the verandah filled in now, which wasn't before, is where the back patio is on the set. Not that we ever saw that part of the house anyway - if we did we'd be wondering why there's another door where Pippa's kitchen window should have been.

Good point about the shape, I did often wonder if there might have been an invisible 4th wall in front of the desk to make it more L shaped, but that was disproved long ago

[beau_t]

Not that we ever saw that part of the house anyway - if we did we'd be wondering why there's another door where Pippa's kitchen window should have been.

It's actually sneaked into the background of a few shots in the early years recently. I always look out for that kind of thing.

[Dan F]

I'm a bit behind but will look out for that!

Sorry, couldn't resist expanding on Alex's idea and introducing a subtle change, just to see how things could have been. Technically if they were only using it for static stock shots, someone with way too much time on their hands could easily have done it in post-production

(the chairs have been nicked in the past few years by one of the Braxtons)