Day 10 - Melbourne to Lilydale via Puffing Billy Railway

This morning we packed up our home for the last four days in Melbourne and found ourselves a hipster breakfast venue before heading off into the Dandenong Ranges, east of Melbourne.
Our main aim for the day was to retrace childhood memories and ride the puffing billy steam train. We made our way to Belgrave, and having arrived with what we thought was plenty of time, discovered unsurprisingly that many others hast the same idea for their holiday Monday.

The planned 12.30 train was booked out when we arrived (11am), so we waited in line and got tickets for the 1.15pm train. We then had plenty of time to kill, so hung out and munched on items purchased earlier from a nearby bakery.

When the time came, we climbed aboard and in the tradition of years gone by (including what I did when I was a kid), the kids sat hanging out the side of the train. The ride up to Lakeside took an hour and in that time, the weather had changed from sunny but cool to windy and chilly. We had jumpers but not our big heavy jackets - so huddled in and kept warm.

We decided that we'd aim for the first available train back down the hill (as the experience is the journey not the destination - or something philosophical like that). Fortunately when we arrived, a return train was ready to leave on the opposite platform and we managed to squeeze on.

The steam train ride is quite a novelty, but the scenery is pretty too. Some vistas back to the city and lots of pretty countryside. The changing autumn colours were also evident.

When we got back to our starting point about two and a half hours after we left, we made a bee-line for a nearby cafe and it was hot chocolates all around to warm us up.

From here we made the half hour trip through parts of the Dandenong Ranges / Yarra Valley to Lilydale where we were generously being hosted by friends for the night. Super extra generous because they only got home from their long weekend away about 20mins before we arrived on their doorstep. It was so very nice to have a home cooked meal, and our kids really enjoyed hanging out with the big kids of our hosts.