The Dandenongs and Yarra Valley

I decided I would take a coach tour yesterday and get out from the city of Melbourne into the countryside. A workmate who is also a long way from home, recommended the Gray Line tours. The booking office and departure point are only one block along from where I'm staying on the corner of Little Bourke St and Swanston St. I picked out the tour I wanted from the brochure...

Ride on Australia's most notable narrow gauge railway through the spectacular Blue Dandenong Ranges with Bellbirds and Kookaburras echoing the steam train's whistle. Tour through the richness of the Yarra Valley - a pastoral experience of farms and vineyards,haystacks and wine grapes. Healesville Sanctuary - a truly Australian experience - cradled in the forested foothills of the Great Divide where you can surround yourself with Australian wildlife.

It is a full day tour, leaving at 9:40am and returning at 5:30pm. I went down to the office for about 8:30. "I'm, sorry, but the tour is fully booked", said the girl behind the desk. "Hang on minute", said one of the drivers. He went out to check. The bus was about to leave but three people hadn't shown up. "But I can't sell you a ticket, it's fully booked." It took 5 minutes to persuade her, but eventually I was on board.

First stop was Grants picnic site in Sherbrooke within the Dandenong Ranges National Park. Here among the magnificent Mountain Ash trees, Adrian, our driver and guide for the day, brewed us up some Billy tea, and provided us with Lamington cake, crackers and Vegemite (originally marketed as "Pa Will" (geddit?)*, or so we were told). We were also provided with seed to feed the birds. Here is one of them pecking from my hand.

Next stop was Belgrave, where we joined the famous Puffing Billy railway.

As you can see, many of the passengers rode it in traditional fashion sitting on the sill with their legs dangling down the side of the carriage.

We got off at Menzies Creek and back onto the bus for a tour through the Ranges and down into the Yarra valley. Next stop was Fergusson's Winery and Restaurant.

Here we were treated to an excellent lunch of spit roast beef, cooked over an open fire in the restaurant, washed down (of course) with some of the Fergusson wines. We then got an opportunity of a free tasting of a selection of their wines, including an interesting novelty - a 'Forte Shiraz'. It's a sweet fortified wine made with Shiraz grapes, and most yummy.

After that it was on to Healesville, to the famous Healesville Sanctuary, where we spent the afternoon, aided by some knowledgeable volunteer guides seeing the animals and birds, including emu, koalas, platypus (I hadn't realised how small they are), wombats, echidnas, wallabies, kangaroos and dingos, among others. Here is a cuddly koala, asleep in a tree.

And here are some kookaburras, though I didn't hear them singing.

Then it was back to Melbourne through the Yarra valley, picking up those who had chosen the winery tour option on the way.

An excellent day out! You can see my photos from the trip here on Flickr.

* I probably ought to explain to readers not from the UK that the British equivalent of Vegemite is called Marmite.