Dandenong Range
After receiving many emails that the pictures and activities of the past few days were sub-standard, we felt we should get out and see the local sites. We got up early and headed for the nearby Dandenong Range (Hills). Our first stop was at Puffing Billy, a 2’6” narrow gauge railway that runs 5 km to Emerald Lake. You can see that it is a little 2-6-2 coal fired locomotive with an assortment of open and enclosed cars. Next we headed to the top of Mount Dandenong for a view of the city and lunch. You can see that it was still overcast but the sun was struggling to come out. It lost.
After lunch we stopped at the William Rickets Sanctuary which is now a state park. Rickets was an artist who lived in the Dandenong rain forest and did these incredible ceramic sculptures that look like they are carved out of the rocks and trees. The faces are Australian aborigines plus a mystic influence from his time in India. It was so cold and damp in the Sanctuary that we had to take Jerry to Kelly’s Tavern for an Irish coffee to warm him up. They had a nice warm fire in the 100+ year old bar. On the way back we stopped at Geppetto’s in Sassafrass to buy a birthday present and to look at some other cute shops. The sun came out while we were driving back to the hotel so we drove to the bay to checkout the sunset.
Saturday, April 8, 2006