From the street, it's a neat little weatherboard home with a ute in the driveway and a small patch of lawn.
Walk through the carport and there's a pirate crow's nest with a couple of skeletons leaning over a raised swimming pool — and suddenly you're halfway to a Gold Coast theme park.
Step through a door in the backyard tin fence and time shifts to 1950s small-town America. Or is it a garage from Mad Max or — gulp — Wolf Creek?
Merrigum fitter and turner Anthony Mann has spent the past six months turning his backyard into a movie set playground to create Manny's Garage — a place where time stands still, fuel is always a shilling a gallon, Coca-Cola and fish bait is on ice and the phone never rings.
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“I love watching movies, and when we go on holidays we always go to the theme parks. Movie World always catches my eye,” Anthony said.
“I saw a show on TV about five years ago about celebrity homes and there was one about the race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. He'd built a whole Western town on his 300-acre ranch — it just looked like a movie set, it was unbelievable.
“I don't know how many times I've gone back to that video on YouTube. I always thought one day I'd love to have a general store or a garage, or a saloon bar.”
When COVID-19 restrictions hit in early March, Anthony started building — with the help of his daughters Ella, 14, and Dakota, 10.
And they didn't just watch — Anthony taught Ella to weld when she was 11 and she has used her skills on the frame and seating.
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The Bedford truck came from a bloke down the road who was having a clean-up.
“He knew I love a project and offered me the truck. It was still a rolling chassis with a gearbox, but I just unbolted it and he delivered it,” Anthony said.
He thought he'd make a water feature out of it, but things changed.
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Three days later a petrol bowser came up for sale on Facebook at an old closed-down service station outside Bendigo.
The garage spark was lit — and old signs, oil drums, a Coca-Cola machine, a juice dispenser, bullnose verandah, Ford Fairlane grille, leadlight door and window all appeared, either bought from internet sites, other collectors, or donated by mates.
“One thing I noticed was that when I picked things up from people, especially the older people, they were so excited just to talk, have a conversation. I've met some really great people over the past few months,” Anthony said.
At night, Manny's Garage comes to life with spotlights, traffic lights, neon signs and even the Bedford truck with skeleton driver all illuminated to create the image of an inviting roadside stop-over.
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The Mann family's creation has also become an internet sensation. After Anthony sent a couple of photos through to a fellow collector at Heathcote he was invited to send them to Aussie Man Caves on Facebook, which has close to 100,000 members.
“The next morning the notifications on my phone were through the roof — they almost hit 1000,” he said.
Manny's Garage is now the cover photo for the site.
Anthony and his wife, Simone, have lived in Merrigum all their lives, but they have always loved to travel. When coronavirus restrictions hit, they found themselves stuck at home — but their creativity and energy has seen them create their own endlessly fascinating world in their own backyard.
“I've had friends say to me ‘this place is built for isolation'. I'm actually having trouble leaving home now, because I'm having so much fun here,” Anthony said.
