Our third day in Melbourne and we had an included day trip. We left the hotel at about 9 o’clock and headed east out of the city through the end of the rush hour traffic. It was slow heading out but the traffic heading into the city was heavy and often queueing. We were heading for a little town called Belgrave in the southern Dandenong Ranges, which is an area of low rolling hills, wooded slopes and streams. It is a popular recreation area and attracts lots of tourists as well as day trippers from Melbourne. Belgrave is a small commuter town first settled in 1851 and linked to Melbourne by a broad gauge electric railway line which terminates in the town. We however were interested in the other railway which runs from the town – ‘The Puffing Billy Railway’.
This is a narrow gauge (2ft 6in) railway line that opened in 1900 and served the local farming and timber industry. The line closed in 1953 and the line running west from Belgrave was converted to broad gauge. A preservation society got going and started restoring the lines and trains and opened the first section of 6km to Menzies Creek in 1962 and over the years the restoration continued and the track now runs 25 km to Gembrook. It has become one of the most visited heritage railways in the world. It is similar to the ‘Ratty’, or Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in the English Lake District although slightly bigger, as the Ratty is only 15inch gauge. We had a good half hour to wait before the train left so we had time to look round the station which is beautifully preserved as it looked in the early 1920’s.
The volunteer staff are appropriately dressed and keen to share their knowledge of the trains and station. We walked the length of the platform to the front of the train where there were two locomotives in the sidings. It turns out that most of the steam locomotives that pull the train are of the same type but have been restored as new and with different liveries. They are all Victorian Railways NA Class locomotives and were built locally in the Newport Workshops and for you train spotters out there are designated 2-6-2T.
The 6A was built in 1901 and has been restored in the green livery of that era, and the 8A was built in 1908 and is restored in the 1923 to 1937 black livery. We saw two other locomotives which were then backed on to the line of carriages, firstly 12A built 1912 and then 7A built in 1905 and both in the red and brown livery of the 1911-21 era. There have to be two locomotives today as the train is nearly full.
There are 15 open sided carriages which each hold around 40 people. They were specially built for this line by the Victorian Railway Company in 1919. By this time the platform is getting pretty full as we only have about ten minutes to departure, so we head off back towards the station because we are in the very last carriage. We clamber on board our carriage and the guard, and his trainee give us a bit of a history lesson on the railway. On a track alongside our carriage is a golf buggy that has been placed on top of a set of bogeys (I think they are called). The tyres on the back of the buggy appear to drive the bogey wheels. In said buggy are two men and a dog and the flat bed rear of the buggy is full of equipment, hoses and a big tank. It turns out that they are the ‘Fire Patrol’ and they have to follow the train in case any embers are spewed out of the funnels of the locomotives and set fire to the woodlands or undergrowth. The two old boys in the buggy seem to really enjoy their volunteer jobs, as does the fire dog if that’s what I should call her. I suspect their wives are also quite happy that their hobby gets them out of the house for a few hours a week. At 10.30 we set off at a sedate pace of probably about 5 miles per hour and are very quickly rattling along what appears to be a thickly wooded valley side sprinkled here and there with blue acanthus. We catch occasional glimpses of the odd house, blue sky and fields. After about 1 km we turn through a great loop and cross the Belgrave-Gembrook Road on a long wooden trestle bridge, where cars have pulled up on the road to wave at the passing train.
It is one of the few glimpses we get of the whole train because most of the route is through woodland and the train seems to be continually twisting and turning as it follows the valley side. After 30 minutes of rattling through the glorious Dandenong countryside we arrive at Menzies Creek Station. The area was named after a John Menzies who was a gold digger here in the 1860’s. I didn’t hear an announcement so I don’t know if the locals pronounce Menzies in the English or the Scottish fashion.
The full journey to Gembrook takes 1 hour 50 minutes but we are getting off here to re-join our coach. From here we drive through the Dandenong National Park on the Tourist Road and stop off at one of the many picnic spots. There is a fairly level trail through the woods and we are told that Superb Lyrebirds can be seen there.
This is a pheasant sized songbird with elaborate tail feathers and it features on the back of the Australian 10 cent bit. It is also a solitary and fairly shy bird so I reckoned our chances of seeing one were about zero as the footpath along which you were supposed to be able to see them was crawling with dozens of tourists making a right racket. We followed the mob and the trail for a few hundred metres and then decided to turn around and stroll back. Apparently the area is famous for it’s Mountain Ash trees, but we didn’t see any – we did see lots of eucalyptus and tree ferns, and just ordinary ferns.
It would have been quite a beautiful and tranquil place if it hadn’t been for the shouting, laughing, whistling hoards of tourists. As we got back near the car park there was a more open area that we pretty much had to our selves for 15 minutes. We managed to see three different birds quite close up, firstly was what I now know is a Sulpher Crested Cockatoo.
This is a quite large bird (up to 55cm) mostly white and it is very intelligent and likes to be around humans so it appears very tame.
Some strange people keep them as pets. Next to arrive was an Australian Magpie, which are fairly ubiquitous, but this was the slightly rarer white backed or ‘Tyrannica variety.
They are similar to the British Magpie in that they are mainly black and white, but at the same time very different. Third to appear was a Crimson Rosella which is a colourful parrot that is fairly common in woodland of south east Australia.
It was pleasing to have seen these so close to the car park as they soon disappeared when the marauding mass of Chinese tourists came back down the trail. Those of our group that did the whole trail saw nothing but trees and ferns. Once back on the bus we drove out of the woods and down into the Yarra Valley. This is the middle region of the Yarra River and is a broad green valley that has hundreds of vineyards and is a world famous wine region. It is classed as cool climate and so makes high quality white wines including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and lots of sparkling wines. We arrived at Rochford wines on the Maroondah Highway having driven through the little town of Coldstream which is most famous for being where Dame Nellie Melba lived. We had a two course lunch at the winery which was slow cooked beef for me and Salmon for Vickie followed by Panacotta for desert. It was surprisingly good quality food but strangely served with just a small half glass of wine. It was part of our group tour and the restaurant was huge and clearly catering for lots of other groups at the same time. After lunch a waiter pointed us in the direction of the smoking area which was around the back of one of the buildings. We arrived to find the wall mounted ashtray was on fire, billowing smoke and flames. Vickie ran back in doors and a minute later a waiter appeared with a jug of water to douse the flames. As ever non smokers had half filled the ashtray with sweet wrappers. Once the drama was over we enjoyed a quiet 10 minutes taking in the scenery. There is a small lake down the slope with another restaurant and a deck over the lake. Gentle slopes of vines abound in all directions and in the distance are the Dandenong Ranges.
Further round was a large grassy bowl with what looked like a large stage. We found a poster advertising that Brian Ferry was giving a concert there the following month. I later discovered that it is a well known venue for big acts despite being in the middle of nowhere about an hours drive from Melbourne. In the past few years they have hosted Elton John, Robbie Williams, Bryan Adams and many other well known bands. Simply Red are playing there in May this year.
Back inside our group was gathered around a tasting table and we had an introduction to the Rochford Winery and tasted four of their best white wines. The wines on sale in the shop were very expensive but we were not taken in. We have experienced at other wineries in Europe that they always inflate their prices above retail. I would not be at all surprised if they made more money from the tours, restaurants and concerts than they did from growing wines, it seemed to be an extensive and slick operation. We left Rochford and soon after crossed the Yarra River. Just after Yarra Glen we pulled in to the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie which is a family owned chocolate factory. There is a huge shop which stocks the 250 different types of chocolate that they make, and has windows where you can see into the manufacturing area, half a dozen or so people hand making different kinds of chocolate. We wandered round the shop but we are not sweet toothed people so felt no urge to buy anything. There is a café/restaurant there and an expanse of landscaped grounds with valley views. Summer had finally arrived and it was now 34 oC so we thought we would sit in the shade and eat ice cream whilst the rest of our group were scouring the shop for just the right type of chocolate. Near the entrance was a counter selling home made ice cream which had been crowded when we arrived but was now deserted, so we swooped in and bought a small cone each, vanilla for me and rum and raisin for Vickie.
Small cone turned out to be one huge scoop of about half a pound of ice cream – thank goodness we didn’t opt for a two scoop job! As it was it was, no matter how fast we licked it was impossible to finish before it had dripped down the cone over our hands and on the floor. Nevertheless it was delicious ice cream and we just had time to scramble into the loo and wash our hands before the rest of the group emerged from the shop and headed for the coach. We headed north for about 6km through non stop vineyards and passing 6 wineries before arriving at De Bortoli Wines for our second wine tasting. Vittorio De Bortoli and his wife were Italian immigrants who set up their first vineyard in 1928. The third generation children now run the whole empire which has grown to be the 6th biggest wine business in Australia. Dixon’s Creek is their winery in Yarra and was the second of three. It is seems smaller than the previous place but is much more attractive, with immaculately kept floral gardens and views across a valley.
There is a gourmet restaurant and a cheese making operation on site as well as the winery and a tasting area come shop. We get a friendly welcome from an enthusiastic young man who guides us through tasting seven different white wines from their Yarra winery, complemented by their own cheeses with biscuits.
The final wine is De Bortoli’s most famous, Noble One, developed by Darren De Bortoli in 1982, it is a Botrytis Semillon which has won 104 trophies, 352 Gold Medals and 113 International awards. It is a very sweet desert wine like Tokai and they sell it in the shop for $55 for a 50 cl bottle. It feels like a much more friendly and personal experience than at Rochford and they are much more generous with their time and tastings. We were only supposed to have a tasting of 4 wines but the young man couldn’t help himself and had us taste 7. I think it was because he was so passionate about the quality of the product.
It took us about 80 minutes to drive the 65km back to our hotel where we arrived at around 6 o’clock. Time to shower and change before heading to The Left Bank for pre dinner drinks on their smoking terrace. Perhaps because it was a Friday evening it was very busy and there two attractive girls in very skimpy non P.C. kit promoting Canadian Club, which we managed to resist. Having said that they seemed much more interested in persuading the rich young men with huge fancy watches than they did us! Vickie was feeling a bit better so we walked all the way down to the end of the Yarra Promenade and looked at all the restaurants, many of which were already rammed full. We thought we would walk back through the inside of the building to see if there were other restaurants inside. Somehow we managed to accidently find ourselves inside the Crown Casino, so ended up doing a swift about turn. I can’t imagine anything more tedious yet stressful than an evening in a casino. We find the inside food court but everywhere is very busy and noisy, which is not our scene no matter how good the food. We find a place that seems busy on the inside but has a terrace on the promenade that has almost no one on it so we plump for that. Usually it’s not a good plan to pick the almost empty restaurant in an area with packed out places, but we didn’t want much as we had had lunch, wine, ice cream, more wine, and cheese already that afternoon. The place was called Cafe Baci and was right next to King’s Bridge. Vickie had a Calamari Salad and I had Chicken Parmigano, which was actually not too bad and not too big, but unusually the waiter was dim and the service confused so he didn’t get much of a tip. Near the end of the meal we heard a loud whooshing noise, a flash of light and much oooing and ahhhing from people on the promenade. It turned out to be the Gas Brigades show which are eight towers spaced along the promenade outside the Crown Building. The first show is at 9 in the evening and lasts about 5 minutes. The towers shoot balls of gas into the air in various sequences and of varying size and strength, culminating in a final blast of gas balls maybe 20 or 30 feet in diameter. It’s become quite an iconic spectacle of the Yarra Promenade and Melbourne nightlife. We walked back to the hotel, stopping at The Left Bank for coffee and a nightcap. We had had a great day in the Yarra Valley and were pleased that the warmer weather had arrived and we didn’t need our jackets in the evening. Tomorrow we have to leave ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ and fly to Cairns.
Thoughts from home and away. 
Puffing and chugging away hopefully with a Puffin paperback!!
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