Category: Melbourne

Wednesday, like Tuesday, was wet throughout the area. I’m not sure whether the cyclone way up in the Coral Sea has anything to do with it but either way, we have not seen the sun. We have been so fortunate with weather during our travels that we mustn’t complain about some light rain.

The AAT Kings motor coach picked us up right on time, 7:20 AM. The coach continued through Melbourne picking up more travellers . I’m sure we have all experienced travel delays from construction but here was ours this morning. Fortunately, the coffee break ended and vehicles were eventually able to pass.

The coach arrived at Federation Square and we were distributed to other coaches for specific tours. Ours was a small 25 passenger coach with a driver/commentator who actually grew up and lives in the area we were to visit.

The Dandenong mountains, are not very tall but parts can receive a very light, short lived snowfall. Most of the area is covered with temperate rain forest. Two of the major features are the huge mountain ash trees and the equally impressive tree ferns. The mountain ash is not at all similar to North American vegetation carrying the same name. These giants easily reach heights of 65 metres during their 300 to 400 year life. They are apparently a flowering tree but it is almost impossible to see their tops. The tree ferns grow to heights of five to ten metres and display long fronds. There are other species, of course, but these two dominate the landscape.

The forest is populated by numerous species including colourful birds. We stopped for “tea and scones” at Grants Picnic Grounds where we did sample the scones, jam and cream—I can just see some of you salivating. Outside the tea shop was an area where tourists could feed the birds. The sulphur crested cockatoos were the most plentiful and certainly the most aggressive. There were a number of galahs and a few rosellas. I have a few photos which you can view in the gallery.

Link to the day’s photos

We continued on the coach only slightly more moist than when we stopped. Our next stop was at the little town of Belgrave where we boarded the Puffing Billy steam powered railway. This is strictly a tourist attraction and there must have been 20 carriages in the train. Most of the carriages were open sided with only canvas screens for weather protection. They were not used today even with the rain. We travelled through the rain forest and back yards for about 30 minutes where we left the train at Menzies Creek. While we were on the train we met a lovely young couple from Russia. The young lady, Alina, operates a tour guide service in Moscow. We shared a bit of our St. Petersburg experience with her. Perhaps we will meet her again should we travel to Moscow.

My train enthusiast friends should definitely check out the photo link above as there are several shots of locomotives seen on the trip. Our last stop was at the town of Sassafras. It was an antique and art community but our choice was soup and a sweet. We entered the small cafe and were greeted by a large, smiling Australian who announced “we don’t serve Canadians here.” We laughed, as did he. Our Canadian-ness was only slightly obvious with our red & white Canada umbrella and the Canadian flag luggage tags on our carry bags. His wife had spent some considerable time in Canada. We were made to feel at home and satisfied our appetites with some potato-leek soup and a caramel square. 

Our driver narrated the journey out of the Dandenongs and back to Melbourne through the late morning rain. The driver dropped us only a couple of blocks from our hotel rather than at Federation Square, several blocks further away. We walked through the Chinese shops and restaurants back to the hotel to dry out.

Our evening meal was taken at a pub called the Elephant and Wheelbarrow. The format is simple. You go to the bar. You order your drink, or food, or both. You pay for your order. You carry the drinks to your table along with a hockey puck device. You wait for the device to light up and vibrate. You return to the bar to pick up your food. Now in our instance the two plates would have necessitated two trips for me to get it to the table so a girl from the bar offered to deliver my fish and chips while I carried Gail’s “real lamb” shepherds pie.  The poor girl accidentally hooked a finger on the basket containing my meal as she placed it on our table. The result was fish and chips on the floor, an embarrassed waitress and very quick service to replace my meal. My meal was very well done and the shepherds pie was among the very best ever tasted.

We had a little fun conversation with a few guys at the next table having a get together for one of the lads who was about to marry the daughter of the gentleman sitting next to Gail. We conversed with him and he added to our knowledge of the Melbourne area.  We returned to the hotel to see what plans we could make for the rainy days to follow.

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Our day at Phillip Island was a bit wet. The rain was never heavy and our walk through the Maru animal centre really didn’t get through our outer wear at all. These small animal farms are typical stops for tour coaches and we have encountered them on our last visit to Australia.

Our driver seemed well informed about the little penguins of Phillip Island, the object of this tour. As Colin piloted the large motor coach along the narrow island roads he kept a constant narration going. There are thousands of penguin nesting burrows and thousands more nesting boxes constructed of wood and placed around the island to accommodate the growing Penguin population. The conservation efforts on the island have included buy-back of all the vacation homes once constructed there along with a breeding program and sophistocated electronic monitoring program. These tiny penguins now have stable populations in Australia and New Zealand but during our drive among their nesting area we saw none.

After arriving at the nature centre we visited the obligatory souvenir and food shops before being allowed to walk to the viewing stands at the beach just after sunset. As we scanned the beach and hillside not knowing exactly what to expect we began seeing tiny penguins scaling the rather steep hill from the beach to plateau. The area is covered with thick grasses and brush that would make difficult going for anyone but these little animals with their short legs just motored along. It was a parade. In groups, they walk single file along paths that they apparently travel nearly every evening to their nests and every morning back to the sea. Although the parade was less spectacular than I had envisioned it was still quite impressive.

While we saw no penguins while driving through the nesting area we saw more wallabies than we could count. There were a number of grey geese and in the waters between the island and mainland we saw black swans and a few pelicans and seals. 

After the Penguin Parade Colin took the coach back to Melbourne. We disembarked at Federation Square and walked up the two block Russell Street hill then another few blocks to our hotel. We got to sleep quickly to be ready for a six o’clock wake up.

I will try to get the Puffing Billy experience done this evening. For anyone with kids you might check out the photo album for this day. Here it is: Phillip Island.

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It is 6:05 AM on Wednesday, April 9 here in Melbourne. We arrived back from Phillip Island around 11:00 PM last evening and have an early start this morning. As a result, details and photos will be published a bit later today.

Our first afternoon here was quite warm and sunny. Yesterday, however was cooler and light rain showers followed us. Apparently, while we were out of Melbourne  the heavy rain had serious traffic implications. Today promises more light rain from time to time but a littler warmer temperatures. We will not spend as much time outside today so I am sure we will enjoy our tour to the Dandenongs and journey on the Puffing Billy railroad.

I have some photos of the area but at the Penguiin Parade photography is forbidden. Here are a couple of links if you are curious. The first is informational and contains a video. The second directs you to a smartphone app where photo galleries may be found. More later, it’s time for breakfast.

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