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BARRY PLANT, 9431 1222 94 Progress Road Price: $600,000 – $690,000 Auction: March 5 at 11am Fast facts: Renovated Fasham Johnson house, large block, new CaesarStone kitchen, Miele stainless steel appliances, study, en suite, light-filled interiors, open fireplace, huge entertainment deck, indoor-outdoor living, thermal blinds, split-system heating/cooling, landscaped gardens, magnificent views to the Dandenong Ranges, off-street parking.
ELTHAM NORTH
20 KILOMETRES NORTH-EAST OF THE CBD Most Sundays in Eltham, hundreds of children with parents, grandparents and friends travel around Lower Eltham Park in miniature trains. They are among the 2½ million passengers who have used the miniature railway since it began in 1961. The miniature railway includes small-scale models of trains from the heyday of rail travel, the 1920s, including Puffing Billy. Passengers sit in single file in the narrow trains which takes them on 13-minute, two-kilometre rides through the park and picnic areas and among the native vegetation. The train clatters along tracks built to to scale of the Australian narrow gauge of 1.1 metres. Volunteers dressed in blue overalls check tickets, help you aboard and drive the train. Many are retirees who can devote hours to what many little boys dream of – playing with trains. Passengers learn about safe behaviour on the train and a station master waves a white flag to tell the driver it is safe to leave the platform. Then, with a toot and a wave, the Eltham Miniature Train sets off on another journey around the park. The railway, which is run by volunteers, uses the money for maintenance and extensions as well as giving some to local charities. It was progressively rebuilt from 1991.
How this suburb has moved: Down by 5.2 per cent in the quarter to December 2010.* REIV stats
FEBRUARY 23, 2011 \ The weekly review 21