Puffing Billy

Is one of the attractions closer to where I stay. Located at the end of Belgrave line, it is only 10 minutes away from my place by train. Situated at the foot of Dandenong mountain range is most well preserved steam trains that still runs on its original tracks. Hence the name Puffing Billy. It is something that I have always wanted to do cause :-

1. It is close to my home. Practically back yard. Although for Nite it is akin to a day trip into the forest.

2. It's cool to ride on a train similar to the one Harry Potter rode to Hogwarts. 

They also come in Thomas the Train version

We also decided on autumn's because of this picture of autumn in Forest Hill, Dandenong posted on my Facebook. I have this image of us hiking through this wonderful forest.

In reality we were greeted by a sea of green throughout the trip.

Why? Why? WHY?

I had this brilliant plan of stopping at Cockatoo and hike back to Emerald Lake which is the popular stop. Most people stopped here. The below should have cued me that my brilliant plan was not executable:-

• The trail map that I printed had geographical contours rather than man-made landmarks.
• The train staff (which were mostly old men with white hair, must be a job requirement to look as old as the train) gave us dubious worried looks.

In the end it took a muddy dead end trail to kill my glorious plan of hiking through a yellow/red maple tree forest. We revert back to walking along the main road that hugs the Puffing Billy tracks, got honed by passing vehicles for being stupid and saved by a bus. Startled a couple of cows but we end up back at Emerald Lake safely.

Emerald Lake can only be describe as Tasik Titiwangsa minus the horse rides. After an hour hike we've decided to up the game and hire a paddle boat for 20 minutes. We must be mad. You can hire one at 15 minutes, 20 minutes and 30 minutes. 20 minutes will be just nice for you unless you are dating and can expect boyfriend to do most of the paddling. Or you plan to punish your boyfriend for something, otherwise take the 15 minute ride.

There's a small cafeteria that you can load back all the carbo that you burned off. The food's unremarkable but it fills you up. After some rest, we took the last train back home. One is advised to plan your activities around the train schedule to ensure you are not left stranded in the mountains.

All in all, a good place to give visitors a flavor of Koala land. My dear sisters, I will definitely bring you all there.