If you're heading to the ski fields this winter, make sure you have a safe journey with these tips on how to prepare your car and drive in snow and icy conditions.
Nature
All aboard the Puffing Billy Train of Lights
Please note: this experience is now sold out but RACV Members can still save on Puffing Billy.
This winter, experience a magical nighttime steam train journey on Puffing Billy through the Dandenong Ranges, while immersed in a moving light show like no other.
In an Australian first, Puffing Billy Railway (PBR) has created a dazzling light show along its Lakeside-Gembrook line, transforming the dark Wright Forest, historical timber trestle bridges and rolling Gembrook farmlands into a spectacular display of bright colours, mesmerising patterns and native wild animal projections.
What is Puffing Billy?
Chugging through the heart of the Dandenong Ranges just an hour east of Melbourne, Puffing Billy is a major tourist attraction that runs every day of the year except Christmas Day thanks to over 300 volunteers dedicated to preserving this century-old steam train.
Puffing Billy was built in 1900 to carry passengers, livestock, potatoes and timber to the small communities living in the hills. It is now one of the best-preserved steam railways in the world.
What is the Train of Lights?
The Train of Lights is Puffing Billy's popular inaugural travelling light show.
It offers passengers the opportunity to experience the natural surrounds of the Dandenong Ranges at night while being immersed in a breathtaking light show designed by acclaimed lighting production company Resolution X.
The Train of Lights illuminates the normally dark Wright Forest. Image: Puffing Billy
What's included in the experience?
Dazzling light show
The Puffing Billy Train of Lights experience begins the moment you arrive at Lakeside Station, with the steam train already illuminated and lighting up the world-class Lakeside Visitor Centre. Grab a meal at the Centre's Railway Cafe prior to boarding if you're peckish!
Throughout your train ride, you will be totally immersed in the Train of Lights show, with colours, patterns and projections leaping from the train to illuminate and transform the landscape around you.
Genuine steam train journey
Steam train travel is truly a magical experience. You will see the historic locomotives being prepared for departure at Lakeside Station and be waved aboard by the engine driver, dressed in traditional blue overalls and cap, and their stately conductors. You will be able to feel the train shudder to life beneath you, smell the coal steam billowing out of the train's chimney, and hear every blast of the evocative whistle.
The Train of Lights will travel through Emerald Lake Park, Cockatoo and Gembrook. Thanks to Puffing Billy's signature open-side carriages, you will have front-row seats to the journey's mountains, forests, valleys and iconic timber trestle bridges.
The return journey lasts for a serene 2.5 hours, with a stopover in Gembrook Station where you can grab refreshments and winter warmers.
Stunning photo opportunity
When you disembark at Gembrook Station, you will have the opportunity to take unique photos of the dazzling train and its illuminations.
Regional Victoria's historic trestle bridges are even more impressive during the light show. Image: Puffing Billy
How do I get a ticket?
RACV Members get exclusive access to the Puffing Billy Train of Lights experience thanks to specially reserved tickets. All other tickets have sold out due to massive demand!
