Storylines
Nick arrives in Summer Bay and rents a room from Marilyn Chambers (Emily Symons) at the beach house. He is attracted to Marilyn but soon begins a relationship with Julie, a young disabled woman. Julie's brother, local criminal Revhead is unhappy about his sister dating a police officer and tries to get Nick into trouble with his superiors. Nick and Julie remain solid but when Julie's father, Alec (David Baldwyn) dies of a heart attack, the relationship crumbles when Nick realises he only has feelings for Julie as a friend a breaks up with her. Julie soon leaves the Bay to attend college.
Nick is not single long as, Donald Fisher (Norman Coburn) plays matchmaker between him and his niece, Lucinda Croft, who arrives to live with him. Nick and Lou begin dating but when Lou's brother, David (Guy Pearce) dies in a car accident, she turns to David's best friend, her former boyfriend Ryan Lee (Alistair MacDougall) for support and breaks up with Nick. Nick tries to get over Lou by dating another girl but realises he still loves her. As Lou is about to return to Perth with Ryan, Nick proposes and Lou accepts. Ryan leaves, defeated.
Ryan returns and causes trouble for Nick and Lou by stealing a nude painting Lou has done of Nick and persuades Simon Fitzgerald (Richard Norton) and his friend Blake Dean (Les Hill) to publicly display it. Nick's teenage brother, Shane (Dieter Brummer) arrives in the bay and causes trouble by taking Donald's car for a joyride. Nick discovers that Shane is hassling Ryan after learning about his affair with Lou. Lou admits to sleeping with Ryan and Nick tries to forgive her but the relationship collapses and Lou and Ryan leave the bay separately. Sometime after Nick dates Roxanne Miller for several weeks, but the relationship does not go anywhere.
When Shane is accused of burglary during community service, Nick is skeptical at first but eventually believes Shane and supports him in court. Shane is jailed but later released when Tug O'Neale (Tristan Bancks) confesses. Nick and Shane's relationship is strained at first but the brothers reconcile. Nick later shadows Shane when he does work experience at the police station but this blows up in his face when Shane uses Nick's password and finds that his girlfriend Angel Brooks (Melissa George) has a son. Nick then mediates between the couple after Shane finds the discovery hard to take.
Nick is involved in a minor car accident when Sam Marshall (Ryan Clark) runs out in front of him. He then joins a yoga class as part of his physiotheraphy, where he befriends local teacher Beth Armstrong (Toni Pearen). The pair arrange a date but Nick is shocked when Tug, one of Beth's pupils, confronts him and reveals he and Beth are in love and will start a relationship once he leaves school. Nick talks to Beth and she admits the truth. Beth leaves and Nick realises he wants to see more of the world than Summer Bay and takes a posting in Africa and leaves. When Shane dies of Septicaemia, Nick attends his cremation.
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