Dandenong Ranges:
A Day in the Rainforest

The Ranges in Brief

There's something slightly disorienting about how quickly the city falls away on the drive to the Dandenong Ranges. You leave Melbourne's eastern suburbs, the road begins to climb, and within 20 minutes the mountain ash forests close overhead and the air changes — cooler, damper, smelling of eucalyptus and bark. It is one of those transitions that reminds you how extraordinary Victoria's geography is: ancient temperate rainforest within 40 kilometres of the CBD of Australia's second-largest city.

The Dandenong Ranges National Park covers approximately 3,900 hectares, protecting stands of mountain ash (the world's tallest flowering plant, reaching 90 metres), myrtle beech, and the spectacular tree ferns — some with fronds up to five metres across — that give the Fern Tree Gully area its name. The park is not a wilderness in the traditional sense; it's crisscrossed with walking tracks, picnic areas, and lookouts, and it borders several well-established villages with excellent cafes and gardens. But the forest itself is genuinely ancient and genuinely impressive.

Puffing Billy Railway

No visit to the Dandenong Ranges is complete without a journey on Puffing Billy — a narrow-gauge heritage steam railway that has been winding through the fern gullies since 1900. Originally built to service isolated farming communities in the ranges, the railway now operates as a preserved tourist attraction and is one of the most visited heritage experiences in Victoria.

The main tourist service runs between Belgrave and Gembrook, a journey of approximately 24 kilometres through some of the most photogenic sections of the national park. Trains run multiple times daily, and the open-sided carriages allow passengers to hang their legs over the edge in the classic Puffing Billy manner — a tradition that has been photographed in the same spot for 120 years and shows no sign of losing its appeal.

The service is extremely popular, particularly on weekends and during school holidays — book tickets online in advance at puffingbilly.com.au. The steam engine smell, the slow pace through the ferny tunnels, and the unmistakably cheerful sound of the whistle at level crossings make this one of those experiences that works equally well for children, adults, and self-professed non-sentimental travellers.

Walking Tracks

The Dandenong Ranges National Park has an extensive network of walking tracks suited to all fitness levels. The most visited section is Ferntree Gully, where the One Tree Hill Picnic Ground provides access to the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk — a flat, 1000-step pathway commemorating Australian soldiers who served on the Kokoda Track in World War II, flanked by enormous mountain ash and dense tree fern understorey.

For a longer and more remote experience, the Sherbrooke Forest section in the park's northern area protects the largest remaining stand of mountain ash forest in the ranges. The Sherbrooke Falls Walk (about 45 minutes return) leads to a pleasant cascade through the forest, and the area is particularly good for birdwatching — the lyrebird is the iconic species of the Dandenongs and can occasionally be heard (and more rarely seen) by patient walkers in the quiet early morning.

The William Ricketts Sanctuary at Mount Dandenong is a unique combination of natural garden and open-air sculpture gallery — the lifetime work of artist William Ricketts, who carved hundreds of figures depicting the relationship between Aboriginal Australians and the natural world into the surrounding tree stumps, rocks, and stone formations. It's a deeply unusual and moving place, and one of the lesser-known highlights of the ranges.

Olinda Village & the Gardens

The hilltop village of Olinda sits at 595 metres elevation in the heart of the ranges and offers a collection of craft galleries, bookshops, cafes, and antique stores along a single curving main street. It has the feel of a village that peaked beautifully in the 1970s and has been perfectly preserved ever since — which is broadly what happened.

Adjacent to Olinda, the National Rhododendron Gardens cover 40 hectares of hillside and are spectacular in bloom from September to November when over 15,000 rhododendron and azalea plants create an extraordinary display of colour. In autumn (March–May), the deciduous trees throughout the village and gardens turn vivid red and gold — making the Dandenongs one of the best autumn colour destinations in Australia.

Suggested Day Itinerary

• 8:30am — Puffing Billy at Belgrave

  Take the first morning service from Belgrave to Menzies Creek or Emerald. Return by mid-morning and grab breakfast at the Belgrave Milk Bar.

• 10:30am — Sherbrooke Forest Walk

  Drive to the Sherbrooke Forest and walk the circuit through the mountain ash. Listen for lyrebirds in the quiet morning.

• 12:30pm — Lunch in Olinda

  The Olinda Cafe has been a Dandenongs institution for decades. Excellent pies, soups, and local produce.

• 2:00pm — William Ricketts Sanctuary

  45 minutes at the sculpture sanctuary — genuinely unique and unlike anything else in Victoria.

• 3:30pm — National Rhododendron Gardens

  Spring and autumn visits are spectacular. Summer visits are peaceful green — still beautiful but less dramatic.

• 5:00pm — Return to Melbourne

  45 minutes back to the CBD via the EastLink. Or stay for dinner in Belgrave or Emerald if you want to avoid the traffic.