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We got packed and ready to leave by 9:00 am
Drove into town for the last time to fill up with petrol, then headed out.
The first stop was Emerald Lake, 1.5hr's away. This made for a pleasant drive and much chatting.
It was raining lightly at the lake but quite pleasant. Took a brief walk down to the lake, and as we arrived, the Puffing Billy train also arrived, so the place went from very quiet to very busy (well, almost everyone on the train went to the huge café and didn't see a single one go to the lake…).
We visited the model rail line near the lake. It has 2km of track! There were a lot of details; some of the small figurines, a surprising number of them, moved, like a busker playing the guitar, or a cowboy with a whip, etc. There were signs all-around of things to spot. There were sections with buttons to animate scenes. All the while, trains were moving, some quite fast, around the tracks, stopping at stations, heading through the mountains etc. It Didn't take too long to make our way around, but well worth the visit. As we were leaving noticed one of the owners was controlling some of the trains manually. Interestingly, despite a train load of people arriving, there were only a few of us in the model train centre.
Headed off to the Gladysdale Bakehouse in Yarra Junction for some lunch - had some very good pies for only $5 - was very popular - but had space to sit and eat. Stopped very briefly at Woollies in town - then headed out to Mount Donna Buang in Warburton (almost all the other nature spots in the area are closed due to road works).
The temperature dropped from 13 degrees at the base to 5 degrees at the top. The drive up is very picturesque through the rainforest. At the top, we walked up the tower to the observation deck - where we could see a lot of cloud… However, the view at the base of the cloud through the trees was quite spectacular.
On the way back down, we stopped at a Rainforest lookout and walk. Which meandered past some waterfalls - only took about 15 minutes & all on raised metal walkways. We hadn't planned this, but it was quite impressive.
Then continued, back through Yarra Junction (as the other roads in the area are closed) and out to the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery - the same place we went to in 2017 (12 Apr 2017). Briefly went into the chocolate store - and had a sample - the place was packed (it's the last day of the school holidays in Victoria). When outside took a photo of the sign, turned my back for a moment & found Ethan Hanging on the sign (so I took a quick pic while telling him to get off). However, when I looked back from when we were there in 2017 - It turns out Makayla fid the exact same thing (see pics)!
Got Ice creams - Got Ethan 2 scoops; it turns out this was HUGE! He ate probably half a scoop (so I had to finish it…). He had Unicorn + Rocky Road (he didn't like the rocky road much). I had a berry sorbet, which looked very crumbly but was actually very nice.
Finally, it was the drive to Mansfield. The road was shocking - potholes everywhere! Some of them were very large & it is a major hwy - we had to change highways at one point - but the potholes continued! It was best to follow someone so I could see them swerve around them first! The lane guidance on the car wasn't always too happy about the swerving!
After 1.5 hours, we found our accommodation, pick up wheel chains & get some dinner. Accommodation is nice and comfortable - with a wood fire (already set for us) and a full kitchen, complete with croissants.
Went into town and walked through. Ethan was very keen for Subway, so we had this for dinner - then back to the accommodation to talk with Mummy, watch some videos, prepare for tomorrow and settle down. Need to leave by 7:40am tomorrow!
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