Yarra Valley Wine Tour:
With the Ryrie Brothers planting their vineyard in 1838, the Yarra Valley became Victoria’s first wine growing district. In 1889 Yeringberg won a prize at the Paris Exhibition making it the first Southern Hemisphere Winery to do so, however, even though the district initially prospered, by 1937 most of the plantings had been grubbed out with the land returned to grazing. During the 1960’s a new generation of wineries was established, producing some of the country’s finest wines. Today over fifty wineries are to be found in the valley, with all contributing to the valley’s ever growing international reputation for producing premium quality wine...
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Puffing Billy Tour
In 1900, engine No.4 left on its first journey to the small ‘hills’ village of Gembrook and the legend of the little narrow guage railway, which was to become known affectionately as ‘Puffing Billy’, was born. For many years the little train provided an essential service thru the Dandenong ranges carrying timber, fruit, potatoes, general goods, the locals as well as many city dwelling ‘day trippers’. In August 1953 a huge landslide between Selby and Menzies Creek proved to be the final straw and excuse for the Victorian Railways to finally close the line, as it had been running at a loss for years. It was at this time that the ‘Puffing Billy’ Preservation Society...
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Historic Melbourne Tour
On the 6th. June 1835, John Batman made a ‘deal’ with the local inhabitants of the Melbourne area for about 600,000 acres surrounding Port Phillip Bay. He made the ‘purchase’ on behalf of the Port Phillip association for the princely sum of 20 pairs of blankets, 30 tomahawks, 100 knives, 50 pairs of scissors, 30 looking glasses, 200 handkerchiefs, 100 pounds of flour and 6 shirts...
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