Hello! I'm new here and would like some help with some unanswered questions :)

[cymbaline]

I wonder what are insurance premiums like in the area?

[CaptainHulk]

Sky-High, I imagine

[Sally Keating]

On 08/05/2018 at 17:24, Homeandawayfan. said:

What i loved what how in the early years, Summer Bay was slightly run down, and had a gritty realistic feel to it. Also characters wore cheap clothing and did not have much money. Something that Corrie and EE (and Brookside) also had when they begun, the gritty feel to them.

I agree with this. It was truly a "backwater", cut off from civilization and full of small town people with small town mentalities. that's what drove half of the stories. that's completely gone now. the stories could be taking place anywhere - in a major city or a small village, and there would be no difference in how they play out.

And yes it was slightly run down and shabby looking which helped create the feeling that Home and Away/Summer Bay had its own unique feel and was set in a deliberately written environment. Now it could be anywhere and all the characters are glamarous and dress like it.

This could be partly due to the real life location - Palm Beach - becoming much more upmarket over the years. In fact it was just starting a long and intensive program of redevelopment just as the show began which was bad timing for the show I guess. But over recent years they have filmed in a lot of the glamarous real-life homes at Palm Beach, overhead shots showing a bustling marina (i.e. a town with money) and generally just a lack of care maintaining the small, modest backwater feel - which with some effort could have been maintained easily despite the redevelopment of Palm Beach. But instead they went in the direction of - "hey Palm Beach is beautiful and modern and sleek now. Let's just show it off in all its glory". 

Nowdays I actually don't think TPTB have any differentiation between the real life Palm Beach and the fictional Summer Bay. I think they just see it as the same place which is a shame as the show has completely lost that Summer Bay feel. the "world" created by the original powers that be is gone.

(and before anyone says it, I'm not saying it should still look and feel exactly like it did 30 years ago or that it shouldn't move with the times. But it should feel like a modern equivalent. And it doesn't).

[Homeandawayfan.]

2 hours ago, Sally Keating said:

I agree with this. It was truly a "backwater", cut off from civilization and full of small town people with small town mentalities. that's what drove half of the stories. that's completely gone now. the stories could be taking place anywhere - in a major city or a small village, and there would be no difference in how they play out.

And yes it was slightly run down and shabby looking which helped create the feeling that Home and Away/Summer Bay had its own unique feel and was set in a deliberately written environment. Now it could be anywhere and all the characters are glamarous and dress like it.

This could be partly due to the real life location - Palm Beach - becoming much more upmarket over the years. In fact it was just starting a long and intensive program of redevelopment just as the show began which was bad timing for the show I guess. But over recent years they have filmed in a lot of the glamarous real-life homes at Palm Beach, overhead shots showing a bustling marina (i.e. a town with money) and generally just a lack of care maintaining the small, modest backwater feel - which with some effort could have been maintained easily despite the redevelopment of Palm Beach. But instead they went in the direction of - "hey Palm Beach is beautiful and modern and sleek now. Let's just show it off in all its glory". 

Nowdays I actually don't think TPTB have any differentiation between the real life Palm Beach and the fictional Summer Bay. I think they just see it as the same place which is a shame as the show has completely lost that Summer Bay feel. the "world" created by the original powers that be is gone.

(and before anyone says it, I'm not saying it should still look and feel exactly like it did 30 years ago or that it shouldn't move with the times. But it should feel like a modern equivalent. And it doesn't).

Summer Bay was a bit shoddy and daggy in 1988. Yes, it was a small coastal town that was cut away from civilisation, it was out of the way and a quiet place to retire to. A good several miles from the nearest big town, probably Yabbie Creek. Summer Bay was more of a township or large village. It had no high street. It just had a school, surf club, store and bait shop. Then it had a diner later on.

Today Summer Bay could easily be a inner city Sydney suburb like Bondi. Also if Summer Bay is supposed to be a small isolated town, the fact that we see many, many houses on the hill to the south of the beach gives it the impression that it is a large town now. In the early years we never saw that hill as such.

[j.laur5]

44 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

Summer Bay was a bit shoddy and daggy in 1988. Yes, it was a small coastal town that was cut away from civilisation, it was out of the way and a quiet place to retire to. A good several miles from the nearest big town, probably Yabbie Creek. Summer Bay was more of a township or large village. It had no high street. It just had a school, surf club, store and bait shop. Then it had a diner later on.

Today Summer Bay could easily be a inner city Sydney suburb like Bondi. Also if Summer Bay is supposed to be a small isolated town, the fact that we see many, many houses on the hill to the south of the beach gives it the impression that it is a large town now. In the early years we never saw that hill as such.

Bondi is eastern suburb. 

[Sally Keating]

5 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

Summer Bay was a bit shoddy and daggy in 1988. Yes, it was a small coastal town that was cut away from civilisation, it was out of the way and a quiet place to retire to. A good several miles from the nearest big town, probably Yabbie Creek. Summer Bay was more of a township or large village. It had no high street. It just had a school, surf club, store and bait shop. Then it had a diner later on.

Today Summer Bay could easily be a inner city Sydney suburb like Bondi. Also if Summer Bay is supposed to be a small isolated town, the fact that we see many, many houses on the hill to the south of the beach gives it the impression that it is a large town now. In the early years we never saw that hill as such.

Again that's part of the redevelopment of Palm Beach. I do believe that back when the show started the hill did have much fewer houses on it and more trees. But yeah  the show does make no effort to hide it and just goes with it, hence my comment that they just see Summer Bay as Palm Beach, when it's not meant to be.

We also see streets lined with houses and apartment blocks etc. Originally they were very careful to only select houses on location that had lots of land round them, making them appear to be in a remote location with more open space than buildings/people. When we'd see characters walking along streets (i.e. the kids going to school), they'd film it on country roads with no buildings around.

I agree, Summer Bay could easily be a place like Bondi now.

[Summer's Bay]

Does anyone remember what year the University appeared in Yabbie Creek? 

 

When Steve left for Uni, was he mentioned at all? Did he come back to visit? Do we know where he went to school?

On 08/05/2018 at 12:24, Homeandawayfan. said:

What i loved what how in the early years, Summer Bay was slightly run down, and had a gritty realistic feel to it. Also characters wore cheap clothing and did not have much money. Something that Corrie and EE (and Brookside) also had when they begun, the gritty feel to them.

I agree. Most probably shopped in the second hand shop or made their clothes...like the wedding dress DebPip wore ?

[CaptainHulk]

Stevo was mentioned a few times, sent Pippa and Michael wedding congrats, Jack Wilson sold his old bike in '94 in order to make some $, which didn't sit well with Pippa.

Stevo went to Uni in the city, that's all we know and he didn't come back until 1995 where he began his Second stint as a regular.

Yabbie Creek University was originally a TAFE and wasn't seen on screen until 2003ish. It became a Uni the year after, Think It's called Northern Districts university now.

[Summer's Bay]

7 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

Stevo was mentioned a few times, sent Pippa and Michael wedding congrats, Jack Wilson sold his old bike in '94 in order to make some $, which didn't sit well with Pippa.

Stevo went to Uni in the city, that's all we know and he didn't come back until 1995 where he began his Second stint as a regular.

Yabbie Creek University was originally a TAFE and wasn't seen on screen until 2003ish. It became a Uni the year after, Think It's called Northern Districts university now.

This is something I will always find so odd. Why the children never came back for special occasions. If Steve was in "The City" why couldn't he return for Pippa's wedding?. I get that Frank was in New York by then but still, Pippa raised him longer than his own parents yet he couldn't come back for wedding. Was Carly at the wedding? if not, what was her excuse?

I'm missing a connection- when Frank returned, and was trying to win back Bobby, we know she eventually went with her head and chose Greg but did she have a conversation/confrontation with Frank that they were over?

When Frank returned years later, did he or anyone else mention Roo? what was his relationships like with Alf/ Donald/Ailsa?

I still dont understand why he never mentioned Bobby at all when he returned..as if we are supposed to forget they were together.

[CaptainHulk]

Closest was Frank lamenting to Pip how much of a screwup he was when it came to marriage during the Sally/Kieran fail in 2000 and the Flashback to Ep 104, where he narrowly missed Bobby and rolled the car, during his conversation with Floss in 2002 ahead of the Mirgini shipwreck disaster that stranded Blake, Sophie, Shelley, Kirsty and Kane.

Carly WAS at the wedding as it was the day she and Ben left town permanently. The Military Police showed up during the reception and took Ben back with them for going AWOL (He had re-enlisted) and went back West with him (as mentioned earlier) He was lucky to escape being court-martialed!