New students enjoy trip on historic steam train
By STEPHEN HENG,
IDP Melbourne – Student Services Centre
It started out with a foggy morning, but as the weather cleared,
the day became subsequently perfect for IDP Melbourne Student
Services Centre’s first welcome function for semester 2, 2007,
which was a day trip to Puffing Billy, a historic stream train that
is now a major tourist attraction servicing the rail network in the
Dandenong Ranges.
The welcome event commenced at 9.30am at the IDP Melbourne
Student Services Centre on Lonsdale St, where students had gathered
early in the morning. Attendance was taken and students were given
a legal disclaimer form to sign as well as a survey form to be
returned at the end of the trip.
You could almost feel the buzz in the air as students were
obviously excited and chatted elatedly among themselves. Some of
them made friends immediately, having been infected by friendliness
and camaraderie.
Students were given Subway sandwiches and bottled water to bring
along as light lunches and were then escorted to Melbourne Central
train station to board the 10.15am train to Belgrave, which is the
connecting station for Puffing Billy.
Along the way, participants got to know each other better,
sharing snacks and jokes.
We boarded the steam train at 12.20pm for the trip to Lakeside,
passing Menzies Creek and arriving at Emerald Lake Park at 1.30pm.
Students then had around 45 minutes of leisure time to walk around
the lake and enjoy the scenery before heading back to Belgrave at
2.15pm. We arrived back at Flinders St station in Melbourne city at
5pm.
We had a total of 25 participants for the event, and students
came from eight countries, including Indonesia, Korea, Thailand,
Vienam, Taiwan, Mexico, India and Chile. It was great as we could
observe how the different nationalities interacted with each
other.
All in all, students really enjoyed the trip, and most of them
indicated that they would be more than happy to join in any future
IDP activities.
Thanks to the IDP Melbourne team, especially Sujin Kang, for
making this event a success.
