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 :)