Things to do in the holiday season – Puffing Billy

Here, in Australia, it’s also school holidays – the summer period. And so I intend highlighting places to visit in my region for readers, should you be looking for somewhere to visit or something to do.

First off, I want to showcase the Puffing Billy steam train. My husband I hear the whistle every day from our home, as the line crosses our road just up the hill. It’s always lovely hearing the train and we’ve enjoyed riding on it ourselves.  Sometimes, if the wind is blowing towards us, or if it’s very still, we can also hear it choofing up the hill.

One thing that children and young people like doing is sitting in the window with their legs hanging over. Frankly it scares me, the thought of them doing that. But it appears to be an acceptable practice and the train isn’t going very fast. It passes through the most beautiful Australian scenery and makes stops at both Emerald and Gembrook, so you can plan to stop at Emerald and have lunch and catch it on the way back or go all the way to Gembrook and have lunch there. There are also evening train trips with dinner.