Puffing Billy

Back to last weekend- we took a ride out to the Dandenong Mountain Range. First we met up with a colleague of Rob's who lives in the area. He gave us a tour of the area. We walked through a rainforest and were able to hear kookaburras and saw a wild wallaby. Then he took us to a park with wild parrots. We saw wild cockatoos, galahs, and Australian king parrots. The gift shop sells bird food and we were able to feed the birds. The boys loved it! I was happy to take pictures from a distance.



C on the commuter train out to the Dandenongs. He wanted to bring his backpack with some of his stuffed animals.

The boys and our tour guide, Tony, inside a tree.

The boys doing their "cool" moves.

Feeding the cockatoos. If you put seed in your hand and held out your arm they would fly over, land on your arm, and eat from your hand. Tony was trying to get the bird to move to C's arm, but it wouldn't.


R feeding the cockatoos.

Rob and R with an Australian king parrot.


C and the cockatoos.

Rob, R, and a cockatoo.

After seeing the birds we grabbed some lunch and went to the train station in Gembrook to pick up the Puffing Billy Steam Train. It is an old train that runs on a track originally laid over a hundred years ago, to bring people to remote areas to live. It is now a scenic train ride through the mountains.


The boys in the train. The coaches were old, ours had a door and was like a private cabin. At the back of the train the kids sat in open coaches and hung their feet off the side. C really wanted to do that, but we didn't realize we could until too late.

R loved the steam train!

C was able to go inside the engine and see the fire box.


Running to get back on the train after stopping at a station.

After the train ride we went to Tony's house and met his wife and daughter. We also met their two allergy-free dogs- one being an Australian Labradoodle. Tony and family moved here from the UK about three years ago and bought their house a little over a year ago. They chose this house because of the view- on a clear day they say they can see the city.

After hanging out at their house for a while we went out for some amazing Indian food and Tony was nice enough to drive us back home instead of having to ride the train back.

Thanks for checking on us!