This week, Neighbours has undertaken one of its biggest weeks ever, heading out in to the Australian Outback for unbelievable location shooting.
Newcomer Heath Royce has taken Holly Hoyland on what she thinks it is a romantic break away, unaware that this is all a part of Tess and Heath’s plan to defraud SinCast of millions of dollars.
Concerned for Holly’s safety, Mackenzie Hargreaves and Haz Devkar have followed Holly to warn of her the dangers she faces and Toadie Rebecchi and Melanie Pearson have been kidnapped by one of Tess’ henchmen and transported out to the remote cattle station.
In the show, the location is supposed to be the fictional Warrawee Station in Queensland, but the actual spot where these epic scenes were filmed is actually in a very different part of Australia.
The cast and crew of Neighbours headed out to Parachilna in South Australia earlier this year to shoot the drama leading up to the death of one character.
Located around 260 miles north of Adelaide, Parachilna was first surveyed in the 1860s. A railway opened close to the town ia few years later, making teh spot a thriving stop-off.
The railway line remains to this day, however, it no longer carries passenger trains. Nowadays the ‘Monster Trains’ pass through carrying coal down to Port Augusta. These trains can be up to 2 miles in length and take more than 5 minutes to pass through the town.
Only 7 people officially live in Parachilna today, if you want to go and visit you can stay and dine at the Prairie Hotel, which was established in 1876. In Wednesday’s episode of Neighbours we saw Haz and Mack stop off here for supplies.
The hotel is well-known for serving what it calls ‘feral food’, serving up dishes including wild animals native to this area including kangaroo, enu, wild boar and camel. A 3-course dinner at the hotel will set you back about £30 and you can spend a night in one of the hotel’s rooms from around £150.
The hotel also features a gallery of works by local South Australian artists including Indigenous artworks and they also have their own micro-brewery on site for beer lovers.
Whilst it may seem in the middle of nowhere, the area is popular with travellers for the outback experience and the opportunity to visit Wadna where you can experience traditional Adnyamathanha culture, art and stories and the nearby copper mining town of Blinman.
Maybe you can add Parachilna onto your Australia itinerary, experience the outback and see where some amazing episodes of Neighbours were filmed (Just make sure you come back alive).