Regular Blog readers will know that VS arrived in Australia with supernumerary crew, our friends Robbie & Jenny Martin having very kindly boat-sat while we were in the UK, then helped with preparing the boat to go offshore, and then crewing with us on the NZ – Australia passage. But now it’s time for them to leave, and for us to get our boat back. Here we are relaxing in the Baltimore Restaurant at Bundaberg Marina – note the plastic screen to keep the cold wind out:

 

 

And here are the supernumeraries at the actual moment of leaving the ship. Are they happy to be leaving, or just happy?:

 

 

The Martins were travelling by train from Bundaberg to Brisbane where they would pick up a campervan to go to Sydney. Here we are at the station striding purposefully along, for some reason both with gritted teeth:

 

 

The train arrives. It’s the only train – one per day each way. Surprisingly it’s a tilting train with full airline service and the track is welded with overhead power. I’d love to know the economics of that. And careful study will show that it’s narrow gauge – 3’6”. Australian railways developed by state not federally, leading to the curious situation of Victoria using Irish gauge (5’2”), NSW standard gauge (4’8 and a half) and Queensland 3’6”:

 

 

And they’re off, with that cheesy grin again: