The One with the Flamin' Gallah!

Having watched Neighbours since the days of Scott and Charlene, Jane and Mike, Henry and Bronwen, (I could go on...), I was particularly excited about the prospect of Neighbours night. Whilst I also hope to get down to Melbourne to see Ramsay Street in the flesh, there is a Neighbours Night held monthly at the Coolabar in Sydney.

In the days leading up to the event, rumours of Karl and Susan, or Lyn Scully and Paul Robinson being the stars on the night are flying around town, so imagine my delight as we walk up, to find that not only will Neighbours legends Toadfish (Ryan Moloney) and Steph Hoyland (Carla Bonner) be there, but absolute TV legend ALF STEWART (Ray Meagher) from Home and Away. (I used to watch that when I was younger too, and have even seen the odd episode of late with Grandad!)

Helen and I join Debbie, Becky and Darren from Wolverhampton. Debbie knows absolutely EVERYTHING there is to know about Neighbours which is kind of worrying, but very endearing. We all hit it off and are laughing and joking, and all set for the quiz (general knowledge with a couple of Neighbours questions thrown in) with our imaginative team name "The Ones at the Back" ... guess where we were seated. Anyway, we accept Debbie's Neighbours Trivia Knowledge in the same way that they all accept me without questions when I bring out Sarrie ready for photos with the stars!

Before we know it Toady, Steph and Alf are at the front and taking questions from the crowd. Alf even does a little rant ending in "you're all a bunch of Flamin' Gallahs" just to send the crowd into a frenzy. Then the three start doing the rounds having photos taken with every one, and to keep everyone occupied in the meantime they start the quiz.

First up, was the legend that is Alf. He is a friend of Mark Sinderberry (my old boss) so was even happy to pose with Sarrie having been to a Saracens match himself in the past. He is such a nice guy!

After one round of the quiz, and a brief interlude, where backpackers did silly stunts to win exciting prizes, it was our turn to meet Toady. Another really nice guy, who took the time out to chat to every single person. His sarrie photo (on the slide at the top) really makes me giggle!

We had all but finished the third round of the quiz by the time Steph had turned up. It's weird as the place was full of 80% women, and most of the guys looked like they had been dragged here unwillingly, and yet it took Steph a lot longer to get round the room than the two guys. She seemed a little tipsy, and very excitable, but also surrounded by men at every turn. Darren only had his photo taken with her (and lets be honest we can all see why - she is stunning. That is my only saving grace for why I look so bad in this photo!)

So with all the stars met, it was time to find out who had won the quiz. "The Ones at the Back" came 4th out of 34 teams. I couldn't have been happier if we had won. 4th - an honourable mention. No prize, but hey with a team name like that everyone turned around to look at us and knew how brainy we all were - (or something like that!)