The day dawned bright and sunny and after breakfast Carmel drove us to Belgrave where we introduced her to the joys of steam trains. Puffing Billy is the affectionate name locals have given to the narrow guage steam railway that in 1900 first connected many isolated communitities in the Dandenong Ranges, providing a means of travel for passengers and the transportation of goods.
It ceased operation in 1953 but was reopened by a preservation society in 1962 and today is claimed to be Australia's favourite steam railway and we rode it from Belgrave to (Emerald) Lakeside. The station yard was very busy when we arrived with several locomotives in steam and we were lucky to have a double headed train haul us to Menzies Creek. The engines appeared to be manufactured in the early 1900's, some of the carriages were from the same period and the scenery through which the train ran was just lovely. As we climbed higher we were treated to grand vistas of the valleys and lakes below and after making several stops we arrived at Lakeside. After a welcome coffee and muffin consumed overlooking the lake and surrounded by Moorhens and ducks we retraced our journey back to Belgrave where we sampled the local pies.
We all enjoyed the experience, Lesley was grinning most of the way as she especially likes steam trains and we were pleased to be able to introduce Carmel to the experience, which she declared will go on her list of things to do with visitors to Melbourne.
Returning home, we relaxed on the balcony with a reviving cup of tea then got ready for our dinner date with Gilly Salmon and her partner, Rod Angood who cooked us an amazing feast of chowder, a range of seafood and roasted figs with honey. We had a really convivial evening with Rod showing us around his gallery across the road and the swapping of family stories and life experiences. For me it was really lovely to meet Gilly in a social setting in her beautiful 19th Century Melbourne home, having only previously spoken with her at conferences and workshops within an education context. Inevitably we all did speak about education at some point in the evening but it was not the focus of our time together and we all had a very enjoyable time and returned home exhausted and ready for our beds!
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