Dandenong and Puffing Billy! 29th Dec 25

After a quick breakfast of eggs on toast we packed our things and left Rye for the journey back towards Melbourne. Before heading to the airport hotel though we had a trip scheduled on Puffing Billy, a heritage steam train in the Dandenong hills outside of the city.

Before arriving at the station, we stopped at a lookout so that we could watch one of the trains travel over the trestle bridge, an old wooden structure that makes up part of the line. Whilst waiting for the train we listened as a pair of kookaburras made their characteristic laughing noise in one of the nearby trees.

Once we'd watched this spectacle we drive the short distance to the station at Belgrave. Checked in, we waited for the train which was due at 12:30. The tickets sold out months ago and so we were lucky to be able to get a couple of return tickets.

The carriages of the railway are also heritage and you're allowed to sit on the edge of the carriage with your legs dangling outside. (It's not the most comfortable position, but you do get a great view!).

The outward journey took almost an hour and passed by a number of stations as it wound its way through the forests. There were also the occasional stunning views overlooking the valleys between the Dandenong area and Melbourne.

Arriving at Lakeside, our final destination for this trip, we disembarked and picked up our pre-booked scones and a grazing platter. (The scones were warm, but sadly the cream was a whipped type and not like clotted cream at home!). The grazing platter itself was also pretty big and we left feeling stuffed.

We had about 90 minutes at this stop and so we wandered down to the lake and had a little look around before waiting for the return trip.

We sat on the other side of the train on the way back and had some great views of the landscapes and also going across the trestle bridge. In about 45 minutes we arrived back at Belgrave station.

By now it was around 4:30 p.m. And so we started the journey back to the airport stopping on the way at the sky-high Observatory to be able to see the views of downtown Melbourne. We arrived at the airport at about 6:30 and checked into a hotel and dropped the car off. By 7:15 we were being met by Eve, and another fellow traveller who lives in Melbourne and who we met when we went to India in 2022.

Eve drove us to High street in Northcote, apparently voted the best street for nightlife 3 years ago. Went to a pub where we had some food and a few drinks, Ed and I both had the special which was a kangaroo steak... Very tasty.

Later in the evening we moved on to another bar and had a few more drinks before catching an Uber home having said farewell to Eve having had a lovely evening. We arrived back at our hotel at the airport just before 1:00 a.m. knowing that we had a 3.45am alarm call to allow us to get our flight.Leggi altro