Melbourne, Australia

Our stay in Melbourne was a delightful one. We woke up to beautiful clear sunny skies and deep blue ocean.

After we got on the bus, our guide introduced herself as Wilma just like in the Flintstones. She really was character alright. She must have been in her seventies and had taught speech and drama for over 25 years. She entertained us with facts of the area and many stories of her life growing up. She got John, our driver, to add his knowledge of the area too. The guide and the driver talked back and forth with their wonderful Australian accents. By the time the tour was over, Wilma had read to us several poems and John lead us in singing. They had all of us laughing the whole tour.


On our tour we traveled up to the Dandenong Range. We stopped at Ferntree Gully and got on an old train called Puffing Billy. It reminded me of the Heber Creeper. We saw a lot of forest and trees. Dennis said that it reminded him of the movie Jurassic Park. I kept an eye out for dinosaurs. After the train ride, we got back on our bus and traveled to Sherbrooke Forest where we saw some unique Australian birds.




On our way back to the city we stopped at the Mt. Dandenong Observatory. We could see down into the valley below and enjoyed looking at some of the flowers in bloom. The rhododendrons were so beautiful.

In one of the suburbs we passed I saw 7-11, Blockbuster, Pizza Hut, and KFC all in a row.

Melbourne has a Mormon Temple but once again we didn't get to see.