When we began our travel prep over a year ago, Rob came to me with a video he found while scrolling that featured smiling people hanging their feet over the side of a steam train as it traveled, and I was instantly sold. Thus, our plan to ride the Puffing Billy was born. The Puffing Billy railway was built in 1900 to carry people and supplies to the Dandenong mountain ranges just outside of Melbourne. It operates today as a tourist train with several routes, and today we took the Lakeside to Gembrook route (45 minutes each way).

The Puffing Beaus

We left Melbourne this morning for the one hour drive to the Lakeside train station. Unsurprisingly to us, we overslept and had no time for breakfast before we left, so we made a mad dash to the train station cafe upon arrival, grabbed some tourist quality food, and made it to our train car in time. Whew! Just like the videos we had watched, the train has bars and little platforms where you can sit and dangle your legs over the side of the train as you travel. So much fun! I feel like this would never fly in the States because inevitably someone would stick out a foot and get it ripped off by a tree as they passed, but in true Aussie fashion, here they seem unbothered by the possibilities. In other news of “things I learned by doing”, steam trains spew up a lot of soot while traveling, and when you sit on the side of an open train, you can reasonably expect to wear home a mound of soot. I think this is how Santa must feel at the end of his route. 😂

Our route took us to the town of Gembrook. I googled ahead of time what we might be able to see and do in Gembrook, Australia, during our two hours there, and also asked our conductor, and both came back with a vague “Well… there are several eateries.” Hmmm… Upon arrival, we did discover a few eateries, most of which were closed with this being Christmas week, a post office, a tiny grocery store, some homes, and… well… not a lot else. We took a walk through the town, vowed to never come back here after dark (creepy vibes), had a tea at the “eatery” and returned to the train to catch our return ride.

Aside from some cool birds and farm animals (a few sheep, horses, and cows), we didn’t spot any wildlife from the train. But we did have a lovely afternoon, and enjoyed ourselves very much.

After we left the Puffing Billy, we headed to a mall on the outskirts of Melbourne (again- us being crazy what with only two days left until Christmas!!) to buy some golf balls for our outing tomorrow (stay tuned for golfing with kangaroos!!). We ended up getting a few more things for our cold weather stops ahead, and I guess we must have been feeling homesick for America because we had dinner at TGIFridays at the mall, and dessert at Krispy Kreme. 😂 In our defense, the hot light was on, and I think it might be a crime in any country to keep driving by when the hot light is on. Our friends we had planned to meet tonight weren’t able to make it 😢, so home now to rest up for our early start to Golf Day tomorrow.

Thanks for adventuring with us!