INTRO
From Wikipedia:
Although the filming location moved following the first series, Australian banana plantation sites have always been used for the production of the UK series – initially at Kooroomool Creek, King Ranch, North Davidson Road, Cardstone, QLD 4854 (2002) and now the Granada Dungay Site, 366-386 Dungay Creek Road, Dungay, NSW 2484 (2003-present). The current site spans further than the original and is actually leased from two families as opposed to a company, with planning permission in place for filming until 2020.
REPORT
My slight obsession for sneaking into TV sets is seen by most as peculiar at the very least, but I'd somehow managed to persuade my friend, without too much convincing, to drive several hours across Australia to get here. I’d heard that the site was patrolled by ex-SAS soldiers, so thought it best to visit outside of filming periods.
After a good couple of hundred miles of driving, my face lit with excitement as we crossed the McPherson mountain range and the sat nav read “Dungay Creek Road” aloud, as I caught a brief glimpse through the trees across the stunning valley that I'd so often seen in I'm A Celebrity... opening shots. At the bottom of a steep and slightly terrifying road, we'd reached our destination – or at least the country road that we'd told the sat nav to take us to:
Dungay Creek Road
Dungay Creek Road is relatively flat and unremarkable, with a small car park for ITV crew near to the bottom of it. Around two miles up from here is the Dawes Crossing (Causeway 1) over the creek, where the road becomes unofficially known as Upper Dungay Creek Road, and also becomes private.
You don't mess with the Aussies – especially not landowner, Craig Parker, who allegedly assaulted an ITV-contracted security guard a couple of years ago – so it's here where I begin my solo mission a little more stealthily on foot. As I leave the car, my slightly concerned friend gives me advice on how to best treat a snake bite. I also realise that there's no reliable mobile phone reception out here and real fear sets in slightly, but I'm too close to turn back.
A little further up the road is the ‘Social Base’ (catering tent, wardrobe/make-up, art department, medical hut and production office) at no. 386 Upper Dungay Creek Road, but I don't hang around here and make my way off-road. The landscape quickly becomes more forest-like as opposed to the open fields surrounding the road but I soon reach the ‘Tech Base’ at no. 366A, where many of the 500-strong crew work in the control room, edit suites and other technical duties. There are around 20 or so buildings across the whole site – mostly of a temporary nature – and the Tech Base makes up for around seven of these:
Production building
'Avid Alley' (edit suites)
Tech gallery (control room)
Inside control room
Racks inside control room
Contacts list
Some structures are removed between filming periods to help preserve the natural habitat. Here, for example, is where the broadcast satellite dishes would be housed:
Satellite area
As I head towards the studio along a partly tarmacked road, I notice that the terrain has become noticeably more dramatic than on Dungay Creek Road. It's unpredictably hilly, and the trees have suddenly become denser, naturally dulling the sunlight. Yet the scorching heat remains – most likely from of a combination of the more challenging conditions and my blatant lack of fitness. On my way to the studio, a number of roads head off elsewhere:
Road to top helipad. Mid-right: fuel tank and generator area
Road to studio
Studio scaffold
I finally reach the 19-metre-high scaffold (above) where the studio stands on the jungle floor. The walkway to the studio is blocked by wooden boards and several danger signs, but I manage to unceremoniously clamber over, where I find one or two remnants of filming:
Ant McPartlin's ashtray (or an ant pot?)
ITV2 host monitor
A short walkway takes me to the studio floor:
Warning sign
Walkway
The two sets of stairs (above) lead up to a crow's nest used by Ant and Dec (presenters) and down to a jib (crane camera) deck which is used to film moving shots of the presenters stood on the adjacent bridges and in the aforementioned crow's nest. Directly below the studio floor is a technical area containing cabling and equipment, a fridge, workbench and various signage.
Studio crow's nest. Bottom left: jib deck
Cabling
Door
Signs
Fridge. ITV Studios produce the programme, but 'Granada' references can be found across the site as a relic of the company's former name
There are also two walls of graffiti from UK and Germany crews, who both use the same set:
Hat
Graffiti
Lower deck context
I head back up to the upper deck which is connected to two bridges (1 and 1a) as seen on-screen. There are ten bridges across the whole site, spanning three quarters of a mile in total and although it's possible to reach the camp and trial areas via walkways across the jungle floor, I really want to follow in the footsteps of those, ahem, A-list celebs – the likes of Kilroy, Janet Street-Porter and Peter Andre – by walking the bridges. Having said that, I'd heard that the bridges are re-rigged between series to ensure their safety, and was guessing by the danger signs that this might not yet have been done, so I'm feeling reluctant to say the least.
Studio floor with connected bridges
With safety in mind, I opt for taking the long route across the jungle floor. It gives me a nice view of the bridges above (and as such is used by camera crews), but after 20 or so cuts and scratches from some minty-smelling plants, I decide to go against my instincts and take the 'easy' route up high.
Looking up
Back up at the studio, I step onto Bridge 1, tightly gripping the sides as I sheepishly walk across. Every step I take causes the bridge to move, but it feels stable enough to continue to the other side. Then onto Bridge 2, and finally 3, where I eventually reach the drawbridge which was added in 2003 following an incident in series 2, where the celebs revolted and marched from camp to the studio over a dispute involving sausages.
Looking back towards the studio over Bridge 1 from Nest 2
Halfway across Bridge 2
Nest 4 and Drawbridge from Bridge 3
To be continued...
From Wikipedia:
Although the filming location moved following the first series, Australian banana plantation sites have always been used for the production of the UK series – initially at Kooroomool Creek, King Ranch, North Davidson Road, Cardstone, QLD 4854 (2002) and now the Granada Dungay Site, 366-386 Dungay Creek Road, Dungay, NSW 2484 (2003-present). The current site spans further than the original and is actually leased from two families as opposed to a company, with planning permission in place for filming until 2020.
REPORT
My slight obsession for sneaking into TV sets is seen by most as peculiar at the very least, but I'd somehow managed to persuade my friend, without too much convincing, to drive several hours across Australia to get here. I’d heard that the site was patrolled by ex-SAS soldiers, so thought it best to visit outside of filming periods.
After a good couple of hundred miles of driving, my face lit with excitement as we crossed the McPherson mountain range and the sat nav read “Dungay Creek Road” aloud, as I caught a brief glimpse through the trees across the stunning valley that I'd so often seen in I'm A Celebrity... opening shots. At the bottom of a steep and slightly terrifying road, we'd reached our destination – or at least the country road that we'd told the sat nav to take us to:
Dungay Creek Road
Dungay Creek Road is relatively flat and unremarkable, with a small car park for ITV crew near to the bottom of it. Around two miles up from here is the Dawes Crossing (Causeway 1) over the creek, where the road becomes unofficially known as Upper Dungay Creek Road, and also becomes private.
You don't mess with the Aussies – especially not landowner, Craig Parker, who allegedly assaulted an ITV-contracted security guard a couple of years ago – so it's here where I begin my solo mission a little more stealthily on foot. As I leave the car, my slightly concerned friend gives me advice on how to best treat a snake bite. I also realise that there's no reliable mobile phone reception out here and real fear sets in slightly, but I'm too close to turn back.
A little further up the road is the ‘Social Base’ (catering tent, wardrobe/make-up, art department, medical hut and production office) at no. 386 Upper Dungay Creek Road, but I don't hang around here and make my way off-road. The landscape quickly becomes more forest-like as opposed to the open fields surrounding the road but I soon reach the ‘Tech Base’ at no. 366A, where many of the 500-strong crew work in the control room, edit suites and other technical duties. There are around 20 or so buildings across the whole site – mostly of a temporary nature – and the Tech Base makes up for around seven of these:
Production building
'Avid Alley' (edit suites)
Tech gallery (control room)
Inside control room
Racks inside control room
Contacts list
Some structures are removed between filming periods to help preserve the natural habitat. Here, for example, is where the broadcast satellite dishes would be housed:
Satellite area
As I head towards the studio along a partly tarmacked road, I notice that the terrain has become noticeably more dramatic than on Dungay Creek Road. It's unpredictably hilly, and the trees have suddenly become denser, naturally dulling the sunlight. Yet the scorching heat remains – most likely from of a combination of the more challenging conditions and my blatant lack of fitness. On my way to the studio, a number of roads head off elsewhere:
Road to top helipad. Mid-right: fuel tank and generator area
Road to studio
Studio scaffold
I finally reach the 19-metre-high scaffold (above) where the studio stands on the jungle floor. The walkway to the studio is blocked by wooden boards and several danger signs, but I manage to unceremoniously clamber over, where I find one or two remnants of filming:
Ant McPartlin's ashtray (or an ant pot?)
ITV2 host monitor
A short walkway takes me to the studio floor:
Warning sign
Walkway
The two sets of stairs (above) lead up to a crow's nest used by Ant and Dec (presenters) and down to a jib (crane camera) deck which is used to film moving shots of the presenters stood on the adjacent bridges and in the aforementioned crow's nest. Directly below the studio floor is a technical area containing cabling and equipment, a fridge, workbench and various signage.
Studio crow's nest. Bottom left: jib deck
Cabling
Door
Signs
Fridge. ITV Studios produce the programme, but 'Granada' references can be found across the site as a relic of the company's former name
There are also two walls of graffiti from UK and Germany crews, who both use the same set:
Hat
Graffiti
Lower deck context
I head back up to the upper deck which is connected to two bridges (1 and 1a) as seen on-screen. There are ten bridges across the whole site, spanning three quarters of a mile in total and although it's possible to reach the camp and trial areas via walkways across the jungle floor, I really want to follow in the footsteps of those, ahem, A-list celebs – the likes of Kilroy, Janet Street-Porter and Peter Andre – by walking the bridges. Having said that, I'd heard that the bridges are re-rigged between series to ensure their safety, and was guessing by the danger signs that this might not yet have been done, so I'm feeling reluctant to say the least.
Studio floor with connected bridges
With safety in mind, I opt for taking the long route across the jungle floor. It gives me a nice view of the bridges above (and as such is used by camera crews), but after 20 or so cuts and scratches from some minty-smelling plants, I decide to go against my instincts and take the 'easy' route up high.
Looking up
Back up at the studio, I step onto Bridge 1, tightly gripping the sides as I sheepishly walk across. Every step I take causes the bridge to move, but it feels stable enough to continue to the other side. Then onto Bridge 2, and finally 3, where I eventually reach the drawbridge which was added in 2003 following an incident in series 2, where the celebs revolted and marched from camp to the studio over a dispute involving sausages.
Looking back towards the studio over Bridge 1 from Nest 2
Halfway across Bridge 2
Nest 4 and Drawbridge from Bridge 3
To be continued...
Last edited:
Full set of photos 
