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Barden's Great Aussie Adventure 2015
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- Oceania
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Location Date Queensland 1452211200 New South Wales 1452038400 Western Australia 1451260800 Australian Capital Territory 1449964800 Victoria 
1448582400 South Australia 1446768000 Northern Territory 1437346800 -
Location Date Genoa 1448582400 Lakes Entrance 1448496000 Clydebank 1448409600 Braybrook
1447372800 Geelong 1447286400 Wye River 1447200000 Warrnambool 1446940800 Narrawong 1446854400 -
Location Date Tue, 24 November 2015 1448378580 Mon, 23 November 2015 1448307540 Sun, 22 November 2015 1448221020 Sat, 21 November 2015 1448123280 Fri, 20 November 2015
1448019960 Thu, 19 November 2015 1447933440 Wed, 18 November 2015 1447864920 Tue, 17 November 2015 1447779840 Mon, 16 November 2015 1447693020 Sun, 15 November 2015 1447605960 Sat, 14 November 2015 1447519380 Fri, 13 November 2015 1447432860
Overnight we changed seasons once again and went from summer to winter.
We headed to the Dandenong Ranges at Belgrave where the "Puffing Billy" departs from. It is a steam train that has been closed down twice in its history and been revived again. A landslide put the train out of business the first time and the second was due to the narrow gauge tracks being torn up to accommodate modern tracks.
It is mostly run by volunteers and they provide a great service. All staff wore uniforms that reflected the train scene from its era and they were all happy to wave to passerby's and the train driver even came greeted the kids before the train left the station. We went to Lakefield which was about 1hr each way and seemed to be the perfect amount of time. It was quite crowded on the way up but once we swapped trains for the return journey we had the entire carriage to ourselves. The engine drove in reverse on the way back as there is no turntable at lakeside. The puffing billy is quite unique in that you are allowed to sit on the side of the train and dangle your legs over the side which was fun. Probably only 10% of passengers did it though. The first steam train journey here started in 1900 and the carriages we are travelling in today were built in 1919.
We took a scenic drive back to camp passing through the seaside suburbs southeast of Melbourne. We stopped at Brighton to get some photos of these colourful bathing boxes. In 1862 the first of these bathing boxes were built climbing to over 200 in 1930 and now only 82 remain here. They were damaged by storms and threatened to be torn down by the council until locals lobbied against it and now they are protected by heritage laws.
Driving past Station Pier where cruise lines and the Spirit of Tasmania dock, we found police had blocked off the area. We found out it was due to a bomb scare started by a police sniffer dog detecting a scent. Luckily nothing was found and after 4 hours of searching all evacuated persons were allowed to re-board and I assume will be having quite a delayed departure.
We headed to the Dandenong Ranges at Belgrave where the "Puffing Billy" departs from. It is a steam train that has been closed down twice in its history and been revived again. A landslide put the train out of business the first time and the second was due to the narrow gauge tracks being torn up to accommodate modern tracks.
It is mostly run by volunteers and they provide a great service. All staff wore uniforms that reflected the train scene from its era and they were all happy to wave to passerby's and the train driver even came greeted the kids before the train left the station. We went to Lakefield which was about 1hr each way and seemed to be the perfect amount of time. It was quite crowded on the way up but once we swapped trains for the return journey we had the entire carriage to ourselves. The engine drove in reverse on the way back as there is no turntable at lakeside. The puffing billy is quite unique in that you are allowed to sit on the side of the train and dangle your legs over the side which was fun. Probably only 10% of passengers did it though. The first steam train journey here started in 1900 and the carriages we are travelling in today were built in 1919.
We took a scenic drive back to camp passing through the seaside suburbs southeast of Melbourne. We stopped at Brighton to get some photos of these colourful bathing boxes. In 1862 the first of these bathing boxes were built climbing to over 200 in 1930 and now only 82 remain here. They were damaged by storms and threatened to be torn down by the council until locals lobbied against it and now they are protected by heritage laws.
Driving past Station Pier where cruise lines and the Spirit of Tasmania dock, we found police had blocked off the area. We found out it was due to a bomb scare started by a police sniffer dog detecting a scent. Luckily nothing was found and after 4 hours of searching all evacuated persons were allowed to re-board and I assume will be having quite a delayed departure.
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