Neighbours cast at Westfield Penrith

Photo taken by: Kim Ravia

I know this blog post is about a month overdue, and I've been a little MIA for the last few weeks but that will all be explained now. I just started doing some volunteer work a few days a week at the Salvation Army and I've had a lot on my plate recently with getting used to it so STARDUST was in the back of my mind for the past few weeks because I haven't had too much time for blogging. I have time now though and that's what matters. 

This blog entry is a bit of a special one, and hopefully it makes up for me not updating you guys with entertainment news for a while. As some of you may know it's Neighbours 30th anniversary this year and to celebrate that the cast of the show have been doing appearances at Westfields around the country.

On Saturday, the 20th of June some of the Neighbours cast did a meet-and greet in Sydney at Westfield Penrith. Scott McGregor (Mark Brennan), Tavis Burns (Tyler Brennan), Rebekah Elmaloglou (Terese Willis) and the legendary Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson) attended this particular one. As a massive fan of Neighbours I went along of course! It took me two hours to get to Penrith, but it was well worth it in the end.

Photo taken by: Kim Ravia

Unfortunately when I got to Westfield Penrith the line to get autographs, and meet the four of them personally was already at maximum capacity. (I got there an hour earlier than the time the cast was expected to arrive, and there were already close to 200 people waiting in line!) I managed to sneak into a good spot on the side of the stage to get some good photo opportunities though. It was great to go to a Neighbours meet-and-greet, because I actually hadn't been to one of those in such a long time. The cast don't often come up to Sydney since the show is filmed in Melbourne, so the last time I went to a Neighbours meet-and-greet was in 2003, when I was 15!

Photo taken by: Kim Ravia

Scott McGregor, Travis Burns, Rebekah Elmaloglou and Stefan Dennis did a bit of a Q&A with the fans. There were quite a few disabled people in wheelchairs who came out to see the cast, and the four of them got up from their chairs to meet these very special fans. I thought that was so touching. In a nutshell a two hour train trip well spent! 

  Video footage shot and edited by: Kim Ravia

   

20 years of the Kennedys on Neighbours!

Photo from: Neighbours Facebook page

Okay, so most people who have known me for a while will be aware that I am a massive fan of long-running Australian soap opera, Neighbours. I've been watching the show since I was eight years old back in 1996. Today is a very important occasion in the history of Neighbours so I can't let it slip by unnoticed. October 3rd, 2014 marks 20 years since the Kennedy family i.e. Alan Fletcher (Dr. Karl Kennedy), Jackie Woodburne (Susan Kennedy), Benji McNair (Malcolm Kennedy), Kym Valentine (Libby Kennedy) and Billy Kennedy (Jesse Spencer) (and, yes in case you were wondering that's the very same Jesse Spencer who played Dr. Chase on House) arrived on Ramsay Street!

The Kennedys are my favourite TV family and one of my all-time favourite Neighbours families. I loved the Scullys to! I have grown up watching the Kennedys on TV every weeknight at 6:30pm and I can't believe how fast the 20 years have gone! I think some of my favourite Kennedy moments over the past 20 years have been the Kennedys arrival on Neighbours back in 1994, the famous slap that Susan gave Karl after his affair with Sarah (Nicola Charles) in 1998 and Libby and Drew's wedding in 2001. I actually didn't see the Kennedys arrival on the street when it first aired on TV because I was only six at the time but I've seen it on DVD a few times since then. I always crack up at the part where Danni (Eliza Szonert) and Brett Stark (Brett Blewitt) help the Kennedys move the piano (at least I think it was a piano?) and they make a huge hole in the wall, much to Karl's dismay.
 

I would like to congratulate Benji McNair, Kym Valentine, Jesse Spencer and especially, Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne, who of course are still kicking it on Neighbours as the legendary Dr. Karl and Susan Kennedy after 20 years on this amazing milestone. I'm pretty sure that Alan Fletcher and Kym Valentine will be reading this and possibly some other current members of the Neighbours cast and crew so thank you very much for giving me and so many other Neighbours fans 20 years of very fond memories.

If any other Neighbours fans are reading this what are your favourite Kennedy moments? Feel free to share them in the comment box below. I will leave you all with a special video tribute that I made in honour of this event. I hope you enjoy it! Happy 20th anniversary to the Kennedys and much love!