Queensland wandering boots: Day 11 Tank Museum Day

By the numbers

1 wet day

2 bus rides

1 museum

7kms

9287 steps

 

I had a good sleep, although I was up early anyway when it was still dark at 6am. I still had another hour and I was wondering what the strange noise was. Turns out it was actually raining and there was also a touch of thunder rumbling too. It wasn’t pouring, but I was happy that I had the day planned out for visiting a museum. Once I got moving, I headed to Coles, although I found where Woolworths was and walked in the other direction. Coles soon turned up and I found they do sell sandwiches, which was breakfast. They just didn’t sell coffee, but a nearby coffee shop had just that for me and the guy was bloody chipper. Still I had a coffee and went back to the hostel, which is across from the shopping centre. I listened to a family talking while eating, It was funny as the kids were asking if mum had backed their jumpers and I was thinking it isn’t cold.

 

After eating I grabbed my bag and wandered off to the bus stop even though I had 15 mins before it came, I was happy to wait as it started raining again. It was pretty easy to sort the bus out as it was in cash and I had enough coins. I was heading to the other side of town where the Australian tank and artillery museum is located. Actually its right next door to the Sky rail, which is where I will get off tomorrow funnily enough. The bus takes around an hour to get there and I was following my map on my phone as the bus went on its way. I didn’t really need to know where to get off as it was sign posted and I could see the rain coming.

 

By the time the bus pulled up at the stop, the museum had only just opened for the day and I was waiting behind several families, which didn’t bother me in the least. The museum is a private museum that holds a pretty large collection of military vehicles. They do happen to have more tanks arriving especially the German ones. I was happy to be there today, although I do wish that I could have been there in August for Tankfest, although that will be another trip. The min amount of time to see the museum is 2 hours and the max could be a full day. I started at the beginning and worked my way round. The signs were pretty informative telling you about the mechanic specs of the vehicle, the history and versions that were in production and which country built them. The last bit of information told you where they acquired the machine and several said they were replicas and restored from other machines by either the museum, or somewhere like the UK. Several were on lists planned to be restored at a later date. They did have a few Australian vehicles too, especially converted tanks that were surplus to needs and bought by farmers. They had one such vehicle there that was really rusty. Throughout the museum, I did notice there were a few of the tanks that were leaking oil.

 

I didn’t go on the tank ride they had advertised and I even looked outside when the crowd were doing the ride and the heavens had opened up and was pouring, so I was happy not to have been caught in the wet weather and doing something different instead. I had made it to one side of the building before there was a call about an open hatch tour, and that was a talk about one specific vehicle. It was a Russian tank that had been in use during the Gulf War I think it was and was sand colours because of that country, and had an Arabic number meaning it was used there. The guy was pretty informative about it and he did answer questions about other vehicles too. I asked one about a rusty Japanese tank as I thought it might have been found in a swamp. It had been captured and was one of many so I think it was the AWM (Aussie war memorial) that off loaded it and the machine was found in a scrap yard. A friend of a collector rang him and the collector stored it at his place until it was handed to the museum last year I think it was. I am really impressed that nearly every vehicle has some story about the production including how many were made. Some were from several hundred to several thousand. The vehicles ranged from thinly armoured light vehicles like a jeep to the 50+ ton heavy battle tanks. I did see one of the vehicles being worked on by two people and they even got the thing running for a minute at least. Every vehicle did have a purpose somewhere along the line.

 

I was wondering what I was going to do for lunch as I didn’t know what I was going to do once I left the museum. I found there was a little caravan that had coffee and food, so I stopped my exploring to refuel, or else I would have eaten my arm, maybe. The last lot of vehicles were all the German ones and they even had some relics from Stalingrad, which surprised me that they were allowed stuff like that. There were some remains of vehicles, or armour plating that showed battle damage. I was actually pretty impressed we had a museum like this in Australia and there did seem to be quite a few collectors from Australia that either sold or donated the machines to the museum. By the time I left with a bunch of goodies it was mid afternoon, I had time before the bus arrived so I had a quick look at the sky rail, although in other words I needed to use their toilets. You could see the rain coming across the mountains and I was happy to get the bus back as it started pouring part way back to Cairns city. I needed to get some washing done once I returned and I did have the idea to visit HMS Cairns, although I soon found that wasn’t a vessel, but it was a base. Not sure if they would be happy with me taking pictures.

 

I have looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow and it is meant to be a wet day again just like today, with the weather clearing on Friday. That doesn’t bother me too much as its all part of the holiday experience and I am happy to get what I am given.