Puffing Billy

Yay, I am back! Contrary to popular belief, I have not completely forgotten about this and do intend to get fully caught up sometime soonish. So, let's go back to where I left off last time...May! I just hope I remember what I did well enough to tell you all about it. Luckily I have pictures to help jog my memory!

Well, the last weekend in May, André's mother and nan were in town. André has a great love of trains, so he decided to take them to see Puffing Billy, something which I vaguely remember doing when I was little. I went with them, and much fun was had all around.

Puffing Billy leaves from Belgrave, which is about an hour's drive away. So the four of us drove there.

When we got there, before boarding the train, I decided I ought to use the loo, so I went. This is of note only because of what I found inside my toilet stall.

Very lovely illustrations of how to use the toilet. Just in case I'd forgotten how. I hadn't, but they were much appreciated nevertheless.

Here's a picture of me on the platform right before boarding.

Then we were shown to our tables inside the train car. Here we are inside, along with pictures of our pretty table and other people in the car.

Along the way, there were lots of nice views.

And they served us lots of really yummy food!

After an hour or so, we reached our destination: Lakeside Station. It was very pretty. Here are some pictures!

Our train engine.

Me in front of our carriage.

A train coming the other way.

The Lake.

Showing my rebellious side.

Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree...well, in some sort of tree.

Then we headed back. The train ride home back to Belgrave was fairly uneventful, and there are no pictures.

Before heading back into town, we went to check out the William Ricketts Sanctuary. It is a park located near the top of Mt. Dandenong. It's filled with Rickett's Aboriginal sculptures that "are an expression of Rickett's philosophy - that all people need to act as custodians of the natural environment in the same way as Aborigines, the inspiration for much of his work." Here are pictures of just a few of the 92 sculptures in the park - the detail is really incredible!