Today we had one of those hellish walks where you find yourself walking in a no-mans-land. We walked down to the river hoping to catch the city ferry. Through a comedy of errors we missed the first ferry and decided to walk instead, along the north bank to the pedestrian bridge nearest the Queensland Maritime Museum.

It was hot, the walk was along a construction site. It was dusty, we were annoyed and thirsty. We made it across the river and collapsed into the first restaurant we saw – where the food was good and the drinks cold. Thank goodness!

The Maritime Museum is a peach. It was a delight to work our way through the inside exhibits, even if it was slightly warm in the building. So many interesting items to look at and read about, from lighthouses and sail makers lofts (my great grandfather was a sailmaker, he made many journeys before moving to Australia from Scotland at the turn of the last century), smoking rooms rebuilt, so many model ships, to the precise geographical location of where we were standing.

When we went outside a guided tour was about to commence of the HMAS Diamantina. Our guide Mark was a font of knowledge. It was great to climb all over that river class frigate and find out so much about its history, the part it played in WW2, and what life was like aboard. It was absolutely stinking hot onboard and below decks – you got the feeling that any movement would’ve improved things.

Of course after climbing over this ship, and looking at the other boats and maritime bits and pieces we did some shopping. I couldn’t resist the sailors bag made by the museum’s very own sailmaker.