Puffing Billy

On about 5-7 hours of sleep, we all got up and raced out of the hotel so that we could make our 7:45am bus to a rainforest a mere hour East of Melbourne.  The Dandenong Ranges are temperate and qualify for rainforest status based on rainfall per year and a beautiful canopy of Mountain Ash trees.

Driving up to these hills feel like a mix of Napa Valley, Thousand Oaks, and the Blue Ridge Mountains. And once inside the curvy hill-country roads, it is almost the spitting image of the Blue Ridge towns that boarder Tennessee and North Carolina.  The towns in this area have been drawing in tourists for over 100 years and have developed into storybook villages with tiny shops that sell anything from chocolates to jewelry to tea to candles to soaps.  And, of course, no Melbourne-area neighborhood would be worth it's weight if it didn't have several cafes.

But before we made our way to a village, we were dropped off at a little nature area where we could partake in a Devonshire tea with scones, feed the Cockatoos, and hike into the tropical rain forest.

The tea and scones were great, but we wanted to get outside since we could sense that the crowds had not hit just yet.  You see, the tour companies all run the same basic packages at the same exact time.  At any given time, there might be between 3 and 5 buses providing the same basic tour agenda involving the same stops.  In fact, the tour buses all leave from the same area of Melbourne - Federation Square, not far from our hotel.  Travel times and quick pit stops might put one of the buses ahead of the others.  We were that bus.

So we hustled outside to feed the Cockatoos.

Gillian feeding the Cockatoos.  Three is heavy!

What a riot.  The wild Cockatoos come flying from all around the high canopy of trees in the forest to get their beaks around some free bird seed.  Aubrey is not a big fan of feeding animals, but the rest of us all had Cockatoos eating out of our hands.  As you can imagine, they have very powerful beaks.  And their claws are very sharp.  At one point my thumb was pinched and pried out of the way by the powerful jaws of one of these brilliantly white creatures.  My arm is all scratched up from their sharp claws.  But it was fun.  Once again, and just like the penguins from yesterday, the animals of Australia are bringers of joy as we were all smiling and laughing. 

These Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus) trees are big, tall and straight.
Ideal for the tall masts of large sailing ships.  

After that we hiked into the woods down some paths.  And while at first this place has the look and feel of North Carolina, once in the forest, you see just how different the plants and trees really are.  The Mountain Ash trees are upwards of 350 feet high.  That is really high.  Really, really high.  I could not get over how tall the trees were.  Most of the rest of the plants were completely foreign too.  And it sounded like a jungle - like something straight out of the movies.

Seriously, where is the Compliance Department?  Oh, yeah, that is a US thing.

Back on the bus and a quick ride to the Puffing Billy train.  Another brilliantly executed tourist trap, the Puffing Billy train used to be used by locals to get from the valley up to the higher villages.  It was restored about 50 years ago and now is run just for tourists.  It runs slowly up the mountain while passengers sit with their feet hanging out the windows.  Apparently, lawyers haven't caught up to this little endeavor yet.  Can you imagine riding on a train anywhere in America where you could even think of being this reckless?  But this fits perfectly well with the Australian culture.  People here are so friendly and somewhat laid back.  It is like being in a country entirely inhabited by surfer dudes.  Even while on the train, a local woman walking her dog took the time away from her earbuds to wave at every single car on that train.  She has probably seen that train 3 thousand times.  She has had to put up with flecks of coal soot landing in her yard.  And yet she had a big smile on her face as she waved at me.

Coal burning train.  

The ride was a mere 25 minutes.  Our bus driver had moved the coach bus up to the new village in order to pick us up.

From there we hit a village that I mentioned earlier before driving an hour back to Federation Square.

Yeah, we like fast food too!

We opted for a late lunch/dinner after doing some swimming back at the hotel indoor pool.  A little place called Rocket Burger seemed like a good option.  We got it "take-away" and ran it back to our hotel.

Outside our hotel window there are kids playing cricket.  I must say I have never seen that in the Twin Cities.

Another day in the books.  Tomorrow we take in Melbourne for the last time before a 5pm flight to Brisbane.  Not sure I want to leave this town.  How can this foreign but familiar country improve on Melbourne?  The cafes, the friendly people, the appreciation of good food, the weather, and the balance of city with nature.  I just might need to come back here…or live here.