Eric_Bal

Hi. I'll be on an 8 day holiday in Melbourne in March 2014 with my wife and 2 kids (8 and 6). Fodor's people have been very helpful on my planning the trip so far.

I Am thinking about doing a day trip to the Dandenongs

Should I take the bus/train to the puffing billy station and then do one whole day on the train (with return to MB at night) and explore the stops ? OR should I just take the car and explore on my own ?

THanks

Eric

lauren_s_kahn

The stops are a big bunch of nothing. With kids I would just do one way. My experience with kids on journeys like that is that shorter is better.

I have done the excursion you mentioned. Not one of the world's great train journeys.

michelhuebeli

You asked the question in your other thread called Victoria in March. Stick with the one or it goes all over the place.

marg

I'd suggest that since you will have a car, drive to Belgrave railway station, drop off your wife and children and let them take Puffing Billy. Pick them up at the end of the train trip and spend the rest of the day wandering around the Dandenongs. The road follows the railway some of the way giving you the opportunity for photos of the children on the train.

GoldenSands2017

I think it depends on how comfortable you are driving in Australia (left hand side of the road). My wife and I went to Melbourne (and other locales in Australia) last February (2013) and we loved it. We took one-half a day to do Puffing Billy, but we had an Aussie friend driving. I live in the USA and would not have liked to do it with a rental car.

The Dandenongs are gorgeous. If you are planning to take a whole day and also tour the Dandenongs as well as just riding Puffing Billy, then I believe you need to rent a car, get a good map while there and study it. The views are wonderful and the twisting hilly roads are something well worth seeing.

Do take one-half day for Puffing Billy because I think it is best enjoyed by savoring it. I mean, take your time. Get off with your family and see a couple of the stops. One of them has a place to eat (picinc as well) and even go out on a small lake. Heaven ... Anf if seeing all or much of the Dandenongs with your family, then I say try for a whole day there to slow down and see things. Explore ... take a little adventure. Victoria is beautiful in the summertime.

This week I have also started my own little travel blog on Google, called "Golden Sands Travel Blog." It is about Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, and Hawaii. I urge you to pop in there once in a while and see what I have posted. Tonight I am probably going to start posting in earnest about the Melbourne leg of our vacation, which featured: Mdelbourne, Great Ocean Road, Lorne, Ballarat and the Dandenongs. We rode Puffing Billy and really loved it. It vwould be even better perhaps for the kids.

I am 62, young at heart, and a prosecuting attorney in the USA.

The internet address for my Golden Sands Travel Blog is bondibeach2013.blogspot.com.

Cheers,

Jack Douglas, aka Golden Sands 2017