Stokehouse and Puffingbilly

16 & 17 -1-2010 (Saturday and Sunday)

We checked out of the Lorne hotel and headed for the beach in Lorne, so the kids could play with the girl they’ve met yesterday. But when she finally came the kids were already very tired so we left the beach around noon and drove towards Melbourne.
Arriving in Melbourne at our serviced apartments it seems in the middle of Jewish Melbourne. The streets are more like Jerusalem then Melbourne. Our serviced apartments are partly kosher and it runs a kosher restaurant on Sunday night.
We have good rooms, Sharon thinks it looks like a Jewish elderly home.

After checking we took a shower and went to St Kilda on the beach. We had dinner in a real nice please on the beach Stokehouse (www.stokehouse.com.au). The kids were tired after a day travelling and ready for bed.

Saturday night we discussed the daytrip options for the next two days. Options are Mornington peninsula, Philip island or Dandenong Ranges.

Sunday morning breakfast in the room we decide to go to Belgrave in the Dandenong Ranges. The Dandenong ranges are a mountain (more hill) range 45 minutes drive east from Melbourne.
From Belgrave goes a very old steam train, Puffingbilly (www.puffingbilly.com.au). We bought tickets for the train. The kids thought Billy is a friend of Thomas the train. The trip was beautiful and off course the kids enjoyed the ride. We stopped at a station called Lakeside, indeed next to a small lake. We ate our self made lunch and then took the train back to Belgrave.
All by all we left at 10 and were back in east st Kilda at 4.

Back in the hood we went to Carlise street, the shopping street of the neighborhood. A lot of kosher shops here as well.
We had dinner in a Israel meets Morocco restaurant that played funky live music: a great band. Good pitot and houmous. Kids got an ice cream and we went back, what we call home these days.
Indeed the restaurant in the hotel was filled with beards and kippot. It’s funny without deliberate looking for it that as well in Sydney and Melbourne we ended up in a very Jewish neighborhood.