SURF'S up - and Aussie panto beauty Madeleine West is feeling right at home on Weymouth beach.

The stunning soap star has arrived from Down Under to take the lead role in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Pavilion Theatre, and yesterday she confessed to falling in love with the resort.

Madeleine, 22, who plays the nurse Dione Bliss in Neighbours, is renting a house in the borough for a month.

She said: "I am a surf chick, so I absolutely adore it here, it's so quaint with all the little cafs and everything set so close together.

"There is nothing like this in Australia, where it's all about distance.

"Things are very far apart."

Nor did Madeleine bat an eyelid at the cold snap which has gripped Weymouth since her arrival.

She said: "The climate is very much like the town I was born in which got very, very cold at winter.

"I did not need to buy new winter outfits to come here - in fact I raided the wardrobe on the Neighbours set and borrowed a load of Dione's clothes!"

The actress, who is looking forward to her pantomime debut on Saturday, added: "Playing Snow White is like a childhood dream come true for me.

"I am a huge fan of fairy-tales and always wanted to play Rapunzel, because of her long hair, but Snow White will be close enough."

Straight after her panto stint, Madeleine will be flying to Los Angeles to meet artists who are to perform songs that she has written.

But, escaping comparisons with fellow Neighbours babes turned pop stars such as Kylie Minogue, Madeleine said: "At the moment I am not thinking about singing myself, I just find writing songs very satisfying.

"It is something that I have always done."

The TV star likes to escape the limelight by performing stand-up comedy.

She said: "I do not want to be connected to Neighbours all the time, so stand-up is something that I do for me without cashing in on my status.

"I hope to take my one-woman show to Edinburgh next year."