Puffing Billy Railway & Ladiesnight

Last weekend on Saturday we went on a trip to Melbourne in the Dandenongs (a series of low mountain ranges, 35km from the center of Melbourne) to visit the Puffing Billy Railway on the occasion of my kids' grandma's birthday! We took a 45-minute ride on the narrow-gauge heritage railway to 'Lakeside'. The locomotive rides are operated and organized by volunteers of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society, who aim to preserve the heritage railway in its 1920s condition. We had a picnic with the whole family by the lake and were lucky to have good weather. Then we took the train back and I headed into the city to spend the evening with the au pair girls.

In the early evening, we went on a little shopping tour at DFO South Wharf, an outlet in Melbourne. We found new shoes for the evening and then we were ready to go! The four of us went to a really nice bar with a direct view of the Yarra River, where we stayed for a glass of wine and then headed to Crown Casino, which is also a complex of numerous restaurants, hotels, and clubs. The casino is really huge and open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Everyone tried their luck with a $5 slot machine game and one of my friends even won double, but unfortunately, I didn't ;) On our way back, we walked along the beautifully lit riverside promenade and listened to some really good street musicians until we all arrived at our train station.