Arriving early we found ourselves to be the only visitors, what a bonus was that as we were given a personal guided tour by Bill, an ex Station Master who joined QR in 1946 and went on to make 48 years of service. Having now been retired for 20 years Bill along with Blair were still enjoying the thrill of the railways as volunteers at the museum. Between them they had us fascinated with all their stories.Bill told us that' carriage 1007' that was in the museum and was currently under refurbishment was one of the carriages that he served on when he first joined the railways as a boy.
Archer Park was originally opened in on the 11th December 1899 and was closed as a railway station in 1970 and is now heritage listed. Another one of the main attractions is the Purrey Steam Train which was built in Bordeaux France of which Rockhampton had 9 of.
Coffee was served in the refreshment room along with jam and scones. By this time we had been joined by two other couples who were being entertained by our hosts Bill and Blair.
It w.as time for lunch so we made our way back to our home. It still being such a beautiful day we thought we should have a look at the Botanical Gardens and Zoo that everyone said we shouldn't miss. Here we enjoyed a couple of hours strolling amongst the vast gardens, fern houses ,the zoo with its aviaries and a few other exotic animals.
With that we decided to call it a day but not before calling in at the supermarket to pick up a few supplies before heading off for Mackay tomorrow morning.
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