Trams, Trains, and More Trains!

This weekend we ventured out of the City to the East into the Dandenong mountains. (They call them mountains, but they are really more like hills.) There is a historic railway there called the "Puffing Billy" that provides a scenic tour of the area. It came pretty highly recommended, so we decided to give it a shot. The Puffing Billy was established in 1900 to provide transportation from Melbourne into the rural areas to the East. The original line shut down in the early 50's as road transport improved, but it was restored and reopened several decades later as a scenic ride. The steam-powered locomotives and railcars are original from the early 1900's.

We started and ended our Puffing Billy journey at the Belgrave Station. Our first stop was for a quick 15 minutes at Menzies Creek. Our final stop before our return was at a small town called Emerald. We ate a nice lunch there at a small cafe. We then grabbed some coffee to go, which was great because the ride home was a bit chilly!

The whole experience was really fun. Our favorite part was seeing all of the green scenery. It reminded us a lot of Pacific Northwest - something we have missed since living in California.

This is a picture to show the steam in the air from the train - it made a neat picture!

An old bridge we went across on our way home.

Here's a little video we got of the ride!

It actually turned out to be a "train day" because in order to get to the Puffing Billy station (about an hour from our apartment) we took a Metro Train. Melbourne's public transit system is primarily comprised of trams in the inner suburbs (one of the biggest tram networks in the world), and trains running to the outer suburbs. We have used trams (and buses), but this was our first experience on the train system. It actually went quite smoothly - we were very impressed! As you can see, the all-electric Metro trains are a little more modern than the Puffing Billy!

Wine Tour in the Yarra Valley

Last Saturday, Anthony and I went on a tour of 4 wineries in the Yarra Valley, about an hour away. There were 25 of us on a bus for the day. It was a neat way for us to see the wine country, especially since we don't have a car.

The first winery we stopped at was Yering Farm. It was actually an old farmhouse turned into a winery. They were holding an event that day, so they had banners around that said, "Drink, drive, bloody idiot". It was a really funny banner that I still don't quite understand.

The second winery we went to was called Rochford. After our tasting, we ate lunch there, which was delicious! It turned out to be a really beautiful day.

The third winery we went to was called Yering Station. This was probably the most beautiful of all the wineries. We took quite a few pictures here.

I loved all the senery here. It was so beautiful!

The last winery we visited for the day was Domaine Chandon. They are famous for their sparkling wine. It turns out there are actually 4 Domaine Chandons around the world - each in a region noted for growing quality sparkling wine grapes. One of the other locations is in the Napa valley, which we have actually been to! We took a tour and learned the differences in how they make sparkling wine. It was really interesting.

After our tour, we had some bread with a chutney spread and cheese with our glass of sparkling wine. It was a nice end to the day.

Domaine Chandon was a really beautiful place as well - we got a few nice pictures here too.

The sun was peaking through the clouds on our way home and I was able to get a picture - I think it turned out really cool :)

Our First "Footy" Game (by Anthony)

This last weekend we went to our first "footy" game. Footy here refers to "Australian rules" football. The game isn't played anywhere else in the world, and they are proud of that. To say that the Australians enjoy their football would be a significant understatement. Most large US cities have no more than one sport franchise in the same league - one NBA team, one MLB team, etc. Melbourne has 10 AFL teams. I'm serious. In fact, the teams are named after suburbs - some of which are only 3 miles apart. You might think that having so many teams would hurt attendance, but a typical game has 60,000+ people in the stands. It isn't unusual for a game to sell out the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG) which holds 100,000 people!

We went to a game between two Melbourne suburbs at the MCG to get the full experience. There were about 80,000 people. We have seen the game on TV many times (it's on about one of every three channels) but have yet to really figure out what is going on. The game uses an American style football, but the players run around in a style more similar to soccer. They are allowed to carry the ball, dribble the ball on the ground like a basketball, throw the ball to other players, and kick the ball. Oh, and of course they tackle each other with a high degree of ferocity (describing it as a body slam seems more appropriate), and they constantly fight with each other on the field - like in a really good hockey game. They do all of these things with seemingly no pattern - it's no wonder we have no idea what is going on!

Here are a few pictures we took of the field and stadium. Note that the field is a huge oval - approximately 180 yards long and 150 yards wide! Crazy.


At the game, we watched intently in an attempt to figure out the rules. We were able to determine a couple of things - most notably, that there aren't many rules. The game is incredibly physical (they consider the NFL to be tame), but in true Australian fashion the players wear no padding.



One nice thing about the game (and having few rules I suppose) is that there are very few interruptions of play. In fact, the action hardly ever stopped - no time outs, no fouls, no stopping the clock every time the ball goes out of bounds - just constant football. It's a phenomenon I've not seen in US sports, but a 30-minute quarter in AFL actually takes just 30 minutes to play! Bizarre.

Here's a little video we got - it shows one of the plays from beginning to end and then a little of the stadium. Kristi is beginning to be quite handy with the video feature of our digital camera and making homemade videos. Hope you enjoy them! (I'm sure there will be more to come.)

Queen's Birthday Weekend

Monday was a holiday - the Queen's birthday - and Anthony didn't have to work. So, we "hired a car" (which means we rented one) for the day and drove to Philip Island. (Notice the driver side is on the Right - an experience in itself!) The little island is packed with so many fun things to do. We didn't have time to do everything, but we got in a full day of fun!

First, we went to Cape Woolamai - one of the best surfing beaches in Australia. It was beautiful and reminded us a lot of the Oregon Coast. There were some huge waves and lots of people out surfing. We got a short video of one surfer, but it's a little far away...sorry! :)






Next, we went to the Koala Conservation Center. It was one of the neatest things we've done! They have built boardwalks among the eucalyptus trees so you can walk along and see the koalas. Most of them were sleeping, but we did get a some video of one of them eating. It was so cute!



Aren't they so cute?! I can't believe how close we were to them. Apparently, they bite and scratch, but they look so cuddly!! :)



This one had a joey (baby) in her pouch. I didn't know they had pouches, so I learned something new!



We had fun with the ones that didn't bite or scratch! Anthony didn't want to sit on one, but I couldn't resist the fun photo-op!



These next pictures were at Pyramid Rock. The landscape was just beautiful and reminded us a bit of Hawaii.






The last item on the agenda for the day was to watch the Little Penguins (that's their official name) at sunset. Funny story about how they got their name... it's because they're small! :) We went down to a lookout point by the beach and as soon as the sun went down, hundreds of Little Penguins popped out of the water and ran across the beach as fast as they could. They are scared to cross the beach, so they cross in groups for safety. Then, they stop to groom a little and then waddle off to their burrows. They mostly stayed in couples. It was so amazing to watch. Unfortunately, they didn't allow any cameras because the flash frightens the penguins. However, earlier in the day, we actually saw some Little Penguins while we were walking around, so we have a few pictures. For reference, they are only about 12" tall. Cute!


This was just outside the Penguin Center:



This was the only picture I could take at night since they didn't allow any pictures at the beach.



We also saw our first wallaby while we were waiting for the penguins. It was a little embarrasing because we actually had to ask some people what it was since we'd never seen one in person. It kinda looked like a mini kangaroo when it was on it's hind legs :) It turned out to be a really relaxing trip - full of lots of new things!

Weekend Fun

Anthony's training got done early on Friday, so we decided to go to the Melbourne Aquarium. It was pretty expensive for what it was, but it was really fun. The last part was definitely the best. We got a little video that we hope you enjoy :)

On Saturday, we had a leisurely morning and then we walked along the beach. It was beautiful weather and tons of sail boats were out on the water. It was really nice. Then, we went to an art show in the City and looked around. We didn't find anything that we loved, but it was fun anyways. We ended the evening with pizza and a movie! It was a great weekend!