Day 7 - 6 May 15

A day out at Dandenong. That is how I'd describe our day.

The weather was fantastic in the morning. Our friends told us that it was unusual to have such a fine weather during this time of the year. We thanked God for providing us with such a lovely weather to start our day.

We woke up at 840am. The kids played with one another before the girls had to leave for school. We left the house at about 1040am and drove for about half an hour to the Dandenong Ranges Visitor Information Centre to enquire about the interesting places that we could visit for the day.

Puffing Billy Railway was highly recommended. Most websites, too, suggested Puffing Billy as one of the to-dos in Dandenong. Since it would be quite an experience for the kids (as well as for us), we gave it a go. We took the steam train ride from Belgrave to Menzies Creek. It was the shortest route which took us a total of one hour to and fro. Imagine if we had taken all the way to Gembrook, the whole day would have been gone. Anyway, the train ride itself was quite pleasant as the train passed through the forested Dandenong. Apart from the surrounding trees, there wasn't much of a view really. On our ride from Menzies Creek to Belgrave, it started to drizzle. And while I felt that the hope of visiting other places around Dandenong was dashed, the most beautiful rainbow appeared in front of us and greeted us. Even Le, who saw a rainbow for the first time (I think), was captivated by its beauty. He must have realised that it is actually real and not just from his Bible story.

After Puffing Billy, we drove to Sassafras, one of the charming villages in Dandenong. And it was not difficult for us to spot the Miss Marple's Tea Room - a very quaint tea room in an English-styled house. It was late lunch for us as we arrived at about 230pm. We had desserts and coffee after lunch and chilled all the way till about 4pm. There wasn't much to do in the tea room. The main reason was to enjoy the cosiness of the ambience indoor against the heavy downpour outside.

We left Dandenong and drove back to Alice's place. We then picked up their eldest girl from school and went for early dinner at Zest89, together with the whole family. Dinner was good especially with a fantastic bunch of people.

Today marked the end of our holiday in Melbourne; we'll be flying back to Singapore tomorrow. Everyday seemed to pass by so quickly. I was glad that we took time out as a family away from Singapore to spend the time together. Every moment was deeply cherished. Also, thanks to A & C who made us feel really at home and to your three lovely girls, we (and Le) will definitely miss them.