Day 57 of 102 *(written the following morning, and later.

Day 58 of 102. En route, Brisbane to Sydney

At long last, on my third visit to Brisbane, I made it to the Ipswich Works Railway Museum. 

* I had known about this museum for some years, but on previous visits to Brisbane, events, the details of which I can not recall, conspired to curtail my visit.  This time, I chose to ignore what the shore excursions had to offer, and make my own way by ordinary commuter train out to Ipswich.

Advice I gleaned on how I might reach Ipswich was merely to get a taxi from the Centre of Brisbane.  That is around 25 miles, I would later discover. But, the journey was, in fact, far easier than I was,at first, led to believe.  Cunard’s Shuttle bus took me right to Brisbane Central Station, as in previous years.  From there, a half-hourly train service to Ipswich, taking 58 minutes, was running perfectly.  The 515 bus from very near Ipswich would drop me right outside the Work Shop Railway Museum.

The entrance was 12 AUD, rail and bus transport 30 AUD less a 13 AUD refund due to me at the end of the day.  I chose a cheese toastie in the Museum café before exploring what lay behind the doors.  Ipswich Works are massive, and most is still the major maintenance arm of Queensland Rail, and except on certain days, not open to the public.

As you would expect, the Museum charts the history of railways in Queensland with numerous exhibits of locomotives, rolling stock, and infrastructure equipment saved from oblivion.  I thought the collection was remarkable, with many intelligent interactive features available, to describe Queensland’s railway history.  Travelling independently enabled me to spend all the time I needed. Because of the way the exhibits were set out, decent photography was challenging.  However, I did manage to record all that I wanted to.  I would return to Queen Mary 2 in exactly the same way as I would travelling out, except that the return train journey was full of boisterous school pupils, mainly teenagers!

Before taking the 5 o’clock shuttle bus back to the ship, I took a short walk revisiting areas I had been to on previous visits.

The shuttle back to the ship endured heavy rush-hour traffic, but all too soon, I was back to the routine of ship life on a long voyage.

Show night was so good that Jo and I went to both performances, grabbing a bite to eat in the Britannia Restaurant at around 7 o’clock.   The Vallies are a specialist tribute 60s singers group from Sydney who allowed the enthusiastic audience to forget their age! 

In the middle of the night, around 05.15, I was awakened by another medical emergency requiring helicopter evacuation.  At 9.54 this morning, the air evacuation had not yet been completed.  Emergency procedures were put into place at around 7.30 a.m., these being announced not only throughout the ship but with emergency instructions relayed through every stateroom.  The evacuation was completed by roughly 10.25.

This morning, the ship’s position seems a little odd, maybe because of the emergency.

Tonight is Gala Night once again.  My enthusiasm for these formal evenings is waning fast!  That may be because of an unexpectedly disturbed night, even before the emergency.

I had a nap this afternoon after catching up with the latest news headlines on the TV. I then ventured to the Promenade Deck to build up today’s steps total. Queen Mary 2 is now sailing as expected, south towards its next, and my penultimate port in Australia, Sydney. After an overnight call, I leave the ship and make my own way to Fremantle.

Last night, the clocks and watches were advanced an hour one final time. By the time we reach Cape Town, we should be all but 1 hour away from British Summer Time, which will be in place by then.

Many thanks for reading, David 18.30, not doing much walking on the Promenade Deck! 9/3/23.