karrabin

as i mentioned in my yeronga blog, we had another month long placement starting at the beginning of our final semester of the degree. i used my four week community placement in ipswich to my advantage, by asking lots of questions, doing lots of different tasks, and learning to use the dispensing software, ironically called lots. (no, i am not making it up, i swear!) at uni, we get taught the most commonly used dispensing software, which is called fred. fred stands for fast reliable electronic dispense. most of the pharmacys i had worked in had used fred as it is a very easy program to use. when i was working for terry white, they were in the process of changing from fred to another software program, called minfos. minfos gives great reports, but is a little trickier to use at first if you are used to fred. at chemist warehouse, they use lots, which is different again and was totally foreign for me. after the first week i felt a little more comfortable using lots. doing my placement in ipswich allowed me to experience lots (haha) of new and different things that i wouldnt have had the chance to do had i asked to do my final placement at the same place i had done all of my others. (though since i was no longer an employee there, i had no intentions of returning for a month long unpaid placement!)

placement in ipswich also allowed me to collect new stations, and i made an effort to collect a new and different station on the rosewood line each week. i have been on the rosewood line many times before, but had never really had a good opportunity to catch a train to or from the stations between wulkuraka and rosewood. i had earmarked karrabin as a station to collect early in my placement because it is the station directly following wulkuraka outbound in the direction of rosewood. i figured that it would be one of the easiest stations to collect, and to actually collect it for a reason would give me something to talk about in my blog; as opposed to poor glasshouse mountains which i collected simply for fun and for no real reason at the time! by driving to karrabin and catching an ipswich train in to ipswich, i could catch the train to placement and save myself the hassle trying to find a car park. the staff at the pharmacy had said how difficult parking could be unless you were at work fairly early. i have always disliked shopping center car parks because of the tight spaces and lack of available drive through parks. parking at a train station suited me far more than any crowded car park, and so on a particularly chilly morning, after karen had driven herself to dinmore to catch her caboolture train to central in time to open her store at 7am, i took emmy for a drive to karrabin. having been to wulkuraka many times, i knew approximately how long it took to drive there from emerald hill, and so i anticipated a few extra minutes to make it to karrabin after driving by wulkuraka. with all the new generation rollingstock works going on near wulkuraka, a drive by the station every now and then to check out the progress is rather enjoyable. i wonder what qualifications are required to apply for a job at this facility once it is completed? i know that a bachelor of pharmacy may not be exactly what they are looking for in potential employees, but it would surely be interesting to apply there, even if i worked nights after dispensing scripts and counseling patients on their medications all day, i would be happy to spend a few hours cleaning the inside or outside of a train because i like trains, and it would be amazing to get an opportunity to work with them in some capacity!

after driving past wulkuraka station, i headed to karrabin. i had looked it up on google maps before placement had commenced, so i vaguely knew how to get there; and despite having printed a map weeks earlier in preparation, naturally i had left it at home. i swear i would forget to insert my brain before i left every morning if we had to take our brains out of our heads and charge them every night like we do our ipads, laptops or mobile phones! i found karrabin station hassle free, and parked in a small parking space on the platform 1 side o the station. the carpark at karrabin is small, but i highly doubt it needs to be much bigger than it currently is. there was only one other car in the parking lot, so despite the lack of drive through spaces, i didnt feel too uneasy about parking there. emmy is used to traveling to random and remote stations by now, so leaving her at karrabin while i was at placement all day was for her simply a case of: another day, another station. that evening when i got back to karrabin, i found her where i left her, still with four wheels, and she had no graffiti or damage to her (unless you count the large bird dropping that had been left on her windscreen. did you know birds dont actually have bladders? their urine and faeces come out of the same opening! thought you may find that somewhat interesting.) so all in all, karrabin station is a relatively safe place to leave your car for the day. 

karrabin station, as i have said, is on the rosewood line. when traveling towards rosewood, the station preceding karrabin is of course wulkuraka, and the station after karrabin is walloon. the train i was aiming to catch was due to depart at 7:18am, meaning i would be at ipswich at 7:26. being early to placement didnt bother me in the least, in fact it gave me an opportunity to sit in the ipswich mall and work on my placement assignments using the free wifi with my ipad. the other alternative was to catch an 8:18 train and arrive at ipswich station just before 8:30, meaning i could possibly be late for placement if the train were slightly delayed. i opted for the early train so i could use the wifi in the mall.

speaking of wifi, while i was waiting on the platform, a wifi enabled train passed platform 2 heading outbound to rosewood. i hadnt seen a newer train on the rosewood line before on any of the times i had been on it, so naturally i had my camera at the ready. if you have read my toowong blog you will know a newer train is rare on the ipswich line, but i presume they are even rarer on the rosewood line, which is an extension of the ipswich line. i do wonder if there will be more frequent services on the rosewood line after the large facility at wulkuraka is operational? we can only hope! i am sure that if trains ran more frequently in the mornings and evenings, more people would use the rosewood line. i know for a fact that i would!

karrabin, like wulkuraka before it, is essentially two side platforms with shelters on each one. there is no station office here, as this station services a rather small population of commuters. the morning i collected it, there was only myself and a lady who probably thought i was some weirdo as she boarded the 3 car train at the other end of the platform from where i was standing. between karrabin and wulkuraka there were lots of things to see with regards to the new generation rollingstock works. so many trucks and diggers! workmen everywhere. it is going to be huge when it is completed.

between karrabin and walloon, if you look out the window to your left when heading outbound towards rosewood, you can see the amberley airport and if you are lucky, you may get to see some of the spectacular aircraft they have there. a friend of mine is an air traffic controller who was working in townsville and is now based at amberley airport. i think air traffic control would be fascinating, but you would see a lot of scary incidents and near misses. i think a job like that would turn me off of flying, just like studying pharmacy has made me realise how much i dislike drugs, and am so grateful that the only thing i take is the occasional puff of my ventolin and 15mls of demazin syrup every now and then to stop my nose running like a tap. (the clear not the blue. honestly, why would you give your child a blue syrup?)

i was to use karrabin on many occasions during my month long placement. it actually became a pseudo home station for me while i was away from dinmore (even if one morning i decided to catch the ipswich from dinmore, just to mix things up a bit!) i actually began to feel a bit guilty for having kind of abandoned wulkuraka when i discovered a faster way to get to karrabin by using the new blacksoil interchange. i have not been a fan of all the works going on here, and really thought it was rather unnecessary to spend so much money on this upgrade. as i have family in toowoomba, i travel there often and have used that road a lot over the last few years, and have never had a problem with it. if you dive properly and wait your turn when turning into the brisbane valley highway from the warrego, there is nothing to worry about. however, after discovering that the upgrade made it easier to get to karrabin station via the wulkuraka connection road, i became a fan of the upgrade. with the opening of the bridge which links the wulkuraka connection road back to the highway, it became easy to get to and from karrabin station much faster than i could get to wulkuraka itself. the many visits to karrabin during placement made me feel guilty about neglecting poor wulkuraka station, however when i could get from home to karrabin station in about 7 minutes, it certainly made sense to use karrabin! essentially karrabin to ipswich became like my many journeys from norman park to park road in the early years of my degree. the number of stations was the same: norman park, coorparoo, buranda, park road; karrabin, wulkuraka, thomas street, ipswich. it was certainly fun to make a new station a semi home station during placement, and whenever i use karrabin in the future (there will be another time i get to employ this beautiful station, for sure!) i will always remember this station as the beginning of many of my days at placement, which for the record, were fantastic. i learned a hell of a lot, and am incredibly grateful to the opportunities presented to me there. the staff were lovely, and went out of their way to help me and make me feel welcome. i cannot speak highly enough of chemist warehouse in the ipswich mall. perhaps my banyo prophecy has come true after all? whether i get to work there or not, it was certainly the most rewarding placement experience i had encountered in my entire degree. 

the karrabin station commuter car park, in all its extravagance. forgive me if that sounds sarcastic, but it is actually not meant to be a sarcastic comment. i really enjoyed using karrabin station, and found its parking facilities more than adequate. the station itself is to the left of this shot. this photo is at the walloon end of karrabin station. if you are riding on the rosewood train, between karrabin and walloon, not all that far out of karrabin itself, you can see amberley airport to your left. the airport is actually not that far from here, and while you cant see it in this photo, it is behind these trees. sometimes you can see the aircraft from the rosewood line. i think it is pretty impressive. i have wanted to get my pilots licence for many years now, though i am worried my poor eyesight may go against me (not to mention the hyperactivity...) i still think it wold be worth investigating once i graduate, which i certainly hope to do at the end of this semester!

i got this photo from the car park as i was walking towards the station entrance on the platform 1 side of the station. emmy is parked behind me, along with the car owned by the young woman who was also waiting for the ipswich train on this particular morning. she probably thought i was some kind of bum, and so we waited for the train at opposite ends of the platform. i like how karrabin station has a ramp on either platform, and having a level crossing instead of a footbridge makes karrabin station more accessible and disability friendly than even yeronga which has one of the most beautifully painted ramps i have seen on the network. the amberley airport is in the background, out of picture, as it is hidden behind the tree line. certainly the aircraft are visible from the railway station when they are taking off and landing, and as i said earlier, you get a wonderful view just outside of karrabin station as you head towards walloon.

you know youre reading the right blog when you see a photo like this. im still not entirely sure what it is about railway station signs, perhaps it is the proof that i have indeed been at the station? whatever it is, i really like photographing them for this blog, and so this is my first for karrabin station (knowing me, there will be many more as you scroll down the page!) this station sign is on platform 1, near the entrance to the ramp which links the platform with the car park. check out how rural this background is! karrabin is certainly a change from the suburban yeronga! welcome back to the rosewood line! it has been a while! im sorry about that by the way, though we do have a lot of assessment to do, so it has been difficult to keep up with writing my blog and trying to pass my degree...

finally on the platform! this was actually my first visit to karrabin. often i will get to visit a station once before i get a chance to photograph it, though not in this case, as i had my camera with me especially for this historic event. it was wonderful to use karrabin as a surrogate station during placement. i got this photo from platform 1, near where the ramp joins the platform. i think it is a pretty well framed shot of platform 2; ive included the shelter, a station sign, awaiting bench and also a lovely tree in the background. i think this is an awesome photo; shot of the blog so far i think!

you just never know what you are likely to see on the network, and seeing one of these trains on the rosewood line was indeed pretty cool. thanks smu283! it isnt common you will see them on the ipswich line, but to see them on the rosewood line is even more special. i think the rosewood line is one of the most beautiful lines i have been on, and if you havent been out this far on the network, it really is worth doing; if only to appreciate how far the network actually reaches. the rosewood line is so incredibly rural, and shows some spectacular views of the open space along the line. it really has an incredibly australian feel to it, with vast open spaces as opposed to the urbanised feel of the stations in the city. the air is clearer, and you can hear bids chirping. i really love the rosewood line! this shot was taken on platform 1, looking slightly towards the wulkuraka end of the platform. the train is passing over the level crossing as it passes through karrabin station. i think this shot is also pretty good. i think it will be hard to pick shot of the blog with this entry, just like yeronga was incredibly hard last month! 

definitely not my best, but i think you can simply say that the train was traveling at a descent speed as it passed through karrabin station, as the platform and overhead wires are all clear and in focus, but the back end of the train is not. sorry about that. i wasnt going to include this one, but i figured it was worth it to highlight once again that this did indeed happen: smu283 on the rosewood line; and also to attempt to dispel the myth that i am an alien, as this is an incredibly human attempt at a photo of a train passing through karrabin station!

this is a shot of the shelter on platform 1, taken while i was waiting for the ipswich train. despite how small karrabin is as a station, it is at least equipped with all the necessary devices, and i have tried to show them in this photo. sheltered waiting area with a seat, timetable information, ticket machine, public telephone, refuse bin and emergency intercom. it is really col to be able to capture all of these in the one photo. behind the white fence to the right of the photo is a bus shelter, as karrabin station is also serviced by bus. pretty neat hey! i am not exactly one for buses, but since this is the most amazingly informative blog you will come across (ok, i know it isnt, but it is a hell of a lot of fun to write when i should be doing assignments! the ultimate procrastination tool!) so i figured i should put as much info into it as i possibly can. i havent seen a bus there yet, but the times i have been at the station have been fairly early or semi late, so to catch a glimpse of the bus would be pretty unlikely. still, you never know, i may be visiting the station again some time soon and see it, if that happens, you can be pretty confident another photo will appear in this blog!

am i rivaling wiki yet? i think this is a pretty descriptive photo of karrabin railway station, as it really highlights how rural the station is. it really feels from the photos that karrabin is sort of in the middle of nowhere, but it isnt, as there are many homes nearby and of course a pretty important airport is to the left of the picture. i got this photo looking towards the walloon end of the station, from the wulkuraka end of the station. i took this picture in the morning while waiting for the ipswich train to arrive and take me to placement.

another one! i love these photos of railway station signs; still not sure why, but i suppose it proves i have been there, so that is a bonus! this karrabin station sign is on platform 2, and i got the photo from platform 2. the amberley airport is not in picture, but it is in the background behind the house and trees. a friend of min is an air traffic controller at this airport. i seriously hope that some day i can get my pilots licence. when i was in high school, a girl in my grade had her pilots licence before she had her divers licence; it was incredibly trippy! she lived on a property and thus had been driving around their land in vehicles since she was a child, so driving wasnt foreign to her. she needed her pilots so that she could fly their plane over the property to check on cattle and whatever else you do when you fly on a cattle station. i never got to really know her that well, but i remember being envious at the time. perhaps i will get my pilots before my mannual car licence, and that way i can be able to compete with her on some kind of level all these years later! i do remember once we had a run in over an assignment in year 12 (religion of all subjects) where she was dirty at me for getting a better mark than her in this particular assessment (i got an a+, she got an a. big difference??) because i started it the day it was due and she had worked on hers for weeks. it wasnt my fault if my essay on soccer being the one true world religion impressed the teacher more than her spiritual painting did!

another wiki style shot! who says railway stations are boring? taken at the wulkuraka end of karrabin station, looking along the rosewood line in the direction of walloon, i got this shot on platform 2 before the ipswich train arrived to take me to placement. placement for those who dont entirely know, is where students are placed at a site of their choice for a defined period of time, where they are required to participate and learn various different aspects of pharmacy. there is set criteria which needs to be fulfilled and documented into reflective diaries, along with examples of different competency standards we have met. the assessment side of things is a little tedious, but the placement itself is usually fun. this time around undertaking placement at chemist warehouse was totally different to anything i had experience before, and if by some strange turn of luck you are a pharmacy student looking for a placement site while you are reading this, it is worth giving the chemist warehouse in the ipswich mall a go, they are certainly worth considering because they went out of their way to help me learn and were very accommodating of my many quirks. they are also incredibly close to the ipswich train station... 

i really like this picture. i got this photo from the wulkuraka end of platform 2 at karrabin, looking inbound along the rosewood line towards wulkuraka itself. there is a lot of construction between wulkuraka and karrabin because of the new generation rollingstock project. essentially the entire distance between the two stations is one large long construction zone. it is fascinating to look at as your train travels between the two stations. i am interested in attempting to secure a job with this large facility once it has been completed. i would be willing to do anything really. as a pharmacy student (almost a pharmacist now, scary thought!) i am ok with bodily excreta and can handle cleaning up vomit and the like if i have to. think it would be great to have an opportunity to work with trains at some point in the future. once i graduate, i have to do my internship for a year, which is essentially a year of full time work with part time study (the assignments and exams dont stop with graduation, sadly!) so perhaps after i complete my internship i could do some part time work with trains. at least an employer would know i am genuinely interested in the work, and because i live so close to both karrabin and wulkuraka stations, i would be unlikely to be late to work! i think this is another photo that could be worthy of wikipaedia. what do you think? while my peers were at home dozing before their placements, i would be up early to catch a nice early ipswich train so i could get a few photos like this one to start my day and get me in the right frame of mind for pharmacy work. i enjoy working in pharmacy more than i probably let on; just like i enjoy riding the train more than i let on! i wanted to show the level crossing in this photo, and you can see the crossing and its footpath as well, just like at banyo where there is a specific designated strip for the humans to walk on that is separate from the road.  

if it wasnt obvious by now that a photo like this was likely to follow the previous one, you havent been reading my blog for very long! this is a shot of the pedestrian crossing at karrabin station, which links platforms 1 and 2. this photo was taken on the platform 2 side of the crossing, looking across at platform 1. wulkuraka station is inbound to the left, and karrabin station is to the immediate right of the picture. the track in the foreground heads inbound to ipswich, the one in the background heads outbound to rosewood. both tracks are often frequented by coal trains which deliver coal from the acland coal mine to the port of brisbane.

this looks familiar doesnt it! i plan to replicate this style of photo at every station on the brisbane translink network with a level crossing. i am slowly getting through them all, probably too slowly, but sometimes slow and steady wins the race. i took this photo one morning at the karrabin station looking inbound along the rosewood line in the direction of wulkuraka. the lighting at this time of morning was simply beautiful for this photo, and thankfully there wasnt much traffic about and nor where there many people around who could see me at the station getting photos for this blog! again, i think this is a pretty awesome photo. it wont win any photo competitions, but it is still a nice shot of the rosewood line.

rotating pi radians, i wanted to get a shot of karrabin station from the path, so you could get a lovely ground level view. i am at the wulkuraka end of karrabin station, looking west along the rosweood line towards the walloon end of the station. i love being at railway stations early in the morning, it is incredibly relaxing and obviously there are less people around earlier in the day to get in the way of my photos! look how beautiful this station is! the rosewood line has only got 6 stations on it, and half of them are like karrabin, simply a platform with shelters. wulkuraka and thagoona are similar in appearance, while thomas street, walloon and rosewood all have slightly more infrastructure. i think karrabin is perfect as it is, it has a lovely feel to it while you are waiting on the platform for your train; i cant quite explain it, but it is a very relaxing station. peaceful may be the word i am looking for. english isnt really my thing, i am more a science/math person in case that wasnt obvious by now! on the left of the photo is platform 2, which will continue outbound to rosewood. on the right is platform 1, which will continue inbound to ipswich.

this is my first photo of karrabin station from platform 2. i got this shot at the wulkuraka end of the station, looking inbound along the rosewood line towards wulkuraka. there is a crapload of construction which essentially stretches between the wulkuraka and karrabin stations. each time i have recently been on the rosewood line i have been amazed at the sheer scale of the work required for this facility. it will be epic once it is completed. the track in the foreground of this photo is the rosewood line itself, and on the left is the line which travels inbound to ipswich. it really is incredibly peaceful to be at this station early in the morning. i would love to do this for a living! such a shame my blog cant be a source of income! 

this photo would have been perfect had it not been slightly blurry. it looked ok on the camera when i took it, but my hands seem to shake a lot (which is particularly annoying when trying to fill volumetric flasks in the laboratory for calibration curve experiments let me tell you!) i am not sure why they are so shaky, but it does make getting clear photos a touch difficult. maybe it has something to do with the amount of footy i played when i was younger, and the fact i have broken my hands a few times. actually my left hand is currently still broken. it was sore back in 2009 and normally my pain threshold is descent, so the fact it was hurting was a bit unusual. i had it xrayed, and they asked me when i had broken it. i didnt know it was broken! they said it had been broken for a while, and had actually fused itself together to try to heal. (perhaps that explains why it hurt when i was writing?) i was told i would need to see a surgeon to have it fixed, which would involve rebreaking it and setting it properly. they gave me a brace and a referral. i am a terrible patient, because i still havent had it fixed, and i am used to the pain when i write. i honestly dont know when i am meant to because i ended up at university in 2010 doing biomedical science for a year, then was able to swap into pharmacy where i have been ever since. perhaps once i graduate i will be able to get it seen to again! in the mean time i keep getting comments that my writing looks like it is in pain. i wonder why?! anyway; i got this photo on platform 2, looking west along the rosewood line towards the walloon end of karrabin station. the blue mat on the platform is the recommended waiting area for people requiring assisted boarding. this mat is at the wulkuraka end of the platform. because rosewood trains are only 3 carriages long (or a single train) the assisted boarding area is at the end of the platform as opposed to the middle like the platforms for most of the other stations on the network. i say most, because there are a few notable exceptions to this rule, including a certain station on the gympie north line which i am still desperate to visit.

karrabin is one of the most photogenic stations i have visited so far on the network, and this is another shot to provide evidence for that statement. look at that beautiful rural background, the tree, the property, the sky. the karrabin sign obediently has a lovely bold font; everything about this photo is perfect. i got this photo on platform 2, towards the wulkuraka end, looking somewhat towards the walloon end. this is the platform to wait on if you wish to travel outbound to rosewood. this is another photo which could easily appear on wikipaedia or google images as a photo of karrabin that looks like it was taken by a real photographer. 

this photo of karrabin station was taken on platform 2, looking across at platform 1, to show off the sheltered waiting area on platform 1. this shelter may be small, but it is small and mighty, as it certainly has everything that you could possibly need, other than a vending machine; but seriously, a vending machine is hardly essential! the track running in front of the platform is the ipswich line, next stop inbound is wulkuraka. the fraction of track in the bottom left of the shot that managed to sneak into view is the rosewood line, next stop walloon.

this is the view of the karrabin level crossing from the platform 2 side looking across at the platform 1 side of the crossing. it has recently been resealed, as you can see, with vastly improved safety. the karrabin station itself is to the left of the photo. this crossing is at the wulkuraka end of the platforms. the railway line in the foreground is the rosewood line, the line in the background is the ipswich line. wulkuraka station is further inbound to the right of the photo, and karrabin station is to the immediate left. 

a double shot of karrabin station! this is another photo which makes me really pleased i am the train blogger because i get to visit so many beautiful stations. i am not sure how many people will be inspired to take a journey on the rosewood line to karrabin just because they have read my blog, but if only one person does, then i have done my job. look at this station, it is beautiful! the trees nearby make the station feel so homely. i grew up in a place with a lot of trees which were awesome for climbing, and i have always loved well established plants. look at the trees behind the station sign in the foreground. this station is truly awesome. the sign in the foreground is on platform 1, at the wulkuraka end of the platform, and platform 2 is in the background sitting in front of the trees. this is another photo that wouldnt look out of place on wiki.

i took this photo at the walloon end of platform 1, while i was waiting for the ipswich train to take me to placement. the track in the foreground is the ipswich line, which runs inbound to ipswich, and the track on the left is the rosewood line which runs outbound to rosewood. i like the way the sun has cast beautiful lighting on this shot of the railway lines.

this is virtually the same photo again, taken from the extreme walloon end of platform 1 of karrabin station. this time now as zoomed in as the previous shot, and poorly framed to show the fence at the end of the platform along the bottom of the photo. the ipswich train is due to arrive at any moment.

here she is! the ipswich train arrives on platform 1 at karrabin station on this beautiful fine morning. as you can see the blue mat is at the walloon end of the platform to indicate the best waiting positions for people who require assisted boarding. the platforms are not level with the trains, and there is a bit of a step up to board the train from the platform. to combat this, portable ramps are placed between the carriage doorway and the platform to make boarding easier.

the ipswich train pulls in to platform 1 at karrabin station. i think the young woman waiting at the station may have thought i was some crazy person, so i deliberately waited at the other end of the platform to her so she wouldnt be spooked. it actually worked out really well though, because that way i could be at the walloon end and get shots of the ipswich train as it arrived, without having to worry about her straying into my photos. win:win as far as im concerned!

the ipswich train was about to depart, so i got one last quick photo of karrabin station looking at the rear of the train as i boarded. you can see the blue mat on the walloon end of the platform correlates pretty well with the rear of the train, this is because a guard will be riding in the back of the train to help assist commuters with mobility impairment to board the train safely. usually in 6 carriage trains (2 units together) the guard will be in the front of the second train for this reason, but as the rosewood line stations are only long enough for three carriages, the guard will be in the rear of the 3rd carriage. i have seen 6 carriage units on the rosewood line before, but where one of the trains is completely inactive.

another fine morning, another visit to karrabin station for placement. normally going to placement had been a drag, because i had been doing it where i had worked. for example, i had to do 32 days in a row at the same store during my previous 4 week placement because of the fact i worked there as well, so weekends either side of placement and during the 4 week block were also spent at that particular store. it was daunting to do placement in a totally foreign environment, but it was also incredibly rewarding too. to add to that, i also got to catch the train to and from placement; so that certainly made it enjoyable! i made sure to saturate the rosewood line while i had this opportunity, and while i visited every station on the rosewood line except thomas street and rosewood during this time, it was karrabin that i used the most. this is a shot of one of the bus shelters at karrabin station. this particular shelter is at the walloon end of the commuter car park at karrabin.

the view along the rosewood line in the direction of walloon, taken from the car park at karrabin station. parking is adequate at karrabin, even if there are no drive through parking spaces. thankfully the car park doesnt fill up so much that i have to attempt to reverse with lots of other vehicles in close proximity! just outside of karrabin, when you are on the train heading towards rosewood, if you look out to the left in the direction of travel, you will see the amberley airport. the station itself is to the left of this photo. 

another car park photo, this time taken looking in the direction of the karrabin station itself. i wanted to show that the car park was fairly generous in length, and i managed to get the little bus shelter in again as well. the station can be seem behind the shelter, where the white fences mark the end of the platforms. such a beautiful day, and a great day to be out and about catching trains. i didnt mind having to spend it in a pharmacy though, as working for the ipswich chemist warehouse was one of the most amazing experiences i had ever had. i certainly recommend that store to any pharmacy students who are doing placement soon and dont have a site yet, these guys are well and truly worth the trip.

this is a similar photo to the one above, but this time i took the photo from the bus shelter in the car park to try to get a shot of the karrabin station from the walloon end without the fence blocking the shot. i think it worked out pretty well actually! platform 1 is on the left and platform 2 is on the right. the wooden sleepers under the tracks have been replaced by cement ones which will hopefully last longer. i think the old sleepers (pictured at the extreme right of the photo) would be lovely in my garden, though i dont know how to go about buying some of them from the railways. they would make nice garden edges, and maybe even a lovely vertical feature of some kind, similar to the station art at yeronga.  

doing a 180, this is the view along the rosewood line as it departs karrabin station. i took this photo from the bus shelter. it was a case of hold my arm out as far as i could and hope for the best. it turned out ok i suppose! the tracks closest to the camera take the inbound trains to ipswich, while the track in the background takes outbound trains out to rosewood.

here is another shot of karrabin station, this time taken as i approached the entrance to platform 1. to get to the platform from the car park, you enter from the walloon end, as there is a walk way linking the parking lot with the platform. i think karrabin station is incredibly beautiful at any time of day, but particularly so in the early morning like this photo shows. having a nice bold font also adds to how much i love this cute little station.

the rosewood train arrives on platform 2 at karrabin station on its way outbound. the train looks lovely and clean as it approaches the end of the platform. such a shame this photo is slightly blurry, because it looked great when i actually took it, and it would have been a great photo. it is so annoying that my hands shake so much. whenever i have to give oral presentations, my hands shake so much it is no uncommon for me to drop my speech! i was no better in high school (i was actually worse) and barely scraped through stupid subjects like english (how is it possible to do better in french than english? je suis merde a francais!) if only my english teach could see me now! i havent failed a subject in my entire degree, i have almost completed writing a novel and have been writing a mildly successful blog. not bad considering i was always dans la merde in english for being well over the word limits in essays, and was chronically bad at oral presentations. anything is possible if you put your mind to it!   

the rosewood continues on her journey outbound, next stop will be walloon. i was still the only one at karrabin station at this hour, despite how late it looks in the photos. i was surprised at how quiet the station actually was, it had expected there to be far more commuters using karrabin than there were. i still feel guilty using dinmore as much as i do because karrabin is so close and handy! it is such a shame there arent more regular services, because maybe more people would use the rosewood line if there were. i am sure i would be able to convince karen to use karrabin station more if it were possible to board any train to ipswich after work and know there would be a connecting service waiting at ipswich to take us the final three station home. 

i featured a photo similar to this earlier in the blog, though i wanted to include this one as well because it is slightly more descriptive of the station, and possibly one of the better photos i have of karrabin station, despite the lack of a station sign or a train. as you can see from the picture, i got this shot on platform 1, looking inbound along the platform in the direction of wulkuraka. the level crossing is to the right of the shot. small and mighty is how i think of the karrabin station; it may be little, but it has virtually all of the same things as other much larger stations. it may not have the presence of some of the larger stations, like indooroopilly, or be as shiny and new as springfield central, but it still has everything that could be expected of it. i think this is one of my better photos of karrabin station.   

this photo of karrabin station isnt half bad either though! its is going to be tough for which photo is shot of the blog this time around, as i have so many descent candidates. it is a bit like applying for honours at uni, we have a cohort of somewhere in the vicinity of 300 students, and with about 30 positions available, only 10% of the cohort could get in. naturally, not everyone applied. i applied thinking i stood no chance; i was right. i went for the same project as another student, who i get along very well with even if we arent close friends. her gpa was close to 7, mine is close to 6, so naturally she got in and i didnt as that project only had one position. (i dont think there is any shame in missing out to someone who is clearly better, and i am happy for her! i didnt think i stood a chance, so to at least be interviewed was a surprise.) trying to select a favourite photo will be like lecturers trying to select a student for their honours project, it becomes difficult when there are a lot of applicants, and you have to decide based on lots of small criteria when you have two candidates who appear very closely matched.

obviously not shot of the blog, but a useful photo of the level crossing from the platform 1 side looking across at the platform 2 side. the station is to the immediate right of the photo. this level crossing is at the wulkuraka end of the karrabin station platforms.

for such a small station, karrabin certainly punches above its weight when it comes to having its photo taken. i had so much trouble getting descent photos at helensvale that i had to return to the station for another study session with nicole just to manage to add a few more pictures to that blog. no such trouble with karrabin, this station is spectacularly aesthetic. not that helensvale isnt, it is an incredibly attractive station, but to try to show that off was actually very difficult. i thought it would be difficult to follow yeronga, which is such a classically beautiful railway station, but karrabin has done it easily. this photo is a great example! taken on platform 1 looking across at platform 2, i have one of the station signs framed to the side so that i could capture the gorgeous tree in the background. this photo was taken near the wulkuraka end of the railway station.

karrabin keeps throwing up amazing photos! this one was taken near the wulkuraka end of platform 1 looking towards the level crossing. platform 2 (for rosewood) is on the right of the photo. i had to get another shot with a station sign, just for fun! it was such a beautiful day for riding trains! you might think it was a shame to have to spend it in a pharmacy, and though i would normally agree, doing my placement at chemist warehouse was unlike anything i had ever experienced before, and it was the best placement i had for my entire degree. it was a shame i had to wait for my last placement to get one that i actually enjoyed, but better late than never! i only hope that my marks for the placement assignments actually reflect how much i enjoyed the placement. to get a 6 in my previous month long placement assessment was completely unexpected, considering i spent far more effort on my blog than i did on the assignments. i am pleased to say i spent far more effort on the placement assignments than was likely to have been required this time around (hence the blog suffered) and i hope that i can at least get a 6 to equal last semester; though for the amount of effort i put into each assessment, i really hope i get a 7 because it will reflect how much i actually enjoyed placement at ipswich chemist warehouse. they are fantastic, and i have been back to the store many times and been greeted by the staff like an employee. it is such a shame they werent taking an intern for 2015, i would have loved to have worked there.  

it was a beautiful and cold morning at karrabin station, and since i managed to get to the station early, it gave me the opportunity to get a few photos before other commuters arrived. i got this lovely shot of the shelter on platform 2 from platform 1, looking across the tracks at platform 2. as you can see, the sign on the shelter says that platform 2 is the platform to wait on if you are traveling outbound to rosewood.

this is a slightly wider shot of the above photo, as i wanted to revert back to a darth favourite of including station signs wherever possible. i think this one works pretty well too, because it includes the karrabin station sign, and the shelter on platform 2 as well as the tracks of the rosewood line and the beautiful old trees in the background. did i hear anyone mention wiki? or if not wiki, certainly google images! 

i wanted to include another shot of the level crossing at the wulkuraka end of karrabin station, just for fun. i took this photo on platform 1, looking inbound along the railways line. platform 2 is on the left of the shot. the track in the foreground runs inbound to ipswich. the road that crosses the railways line joins the karrabin rosewood road with dixon street. if you follow this road inbound from karrabin station, you will run beside the rosewood line for a while, and be able to see the new generation rollingstock works. you can actually see it pretty well from google maps at the moment too.

i dont believe it. i see it, but i dont believe it! look what is approaching karrabin from the walloon end of the station! yes, it is smu268. what on earth is this train doing on the rosewood line? not that i am complaining! i am just in shock! these trains are incredibly popular on the network (not just for their wifi i am sure). you can hear the mumble of excitement on the platform when one of these guys approaches the station you are waiting at. similarly, you hear the communal sign of disappointment when the train approaching isnt one of these trains! actually, i noticed the disappointment among commuters on the cleveland line more often that i do on the ipswich or rosewood lines. i think we are used to the humble emu or the older model smu on our line, while the cleveland line commuters get spoiled with newer trains fairly often. we still use norman park fairly often, despite the fact it really is no where near where we live; it still comes in very handy for us. i got this shot at the wulkuraka end of platform 1, looking along the length of the platform towards the walloon end to get a somewhat descent shot of the ipswich train arriving at karrabin.    

the impending arrival of the ipswich train at karrabin station signals the booms to lower over the road, and the lights to begin flashing. naturally, i had to get a photo of this from my current position. the photo is surprisingly good, not spoiled by stray vehicles approaching the crossing like i had expected at this time of the morning. at the far left of the photo you can see the red signals for both humans and vehicles wishing to cross from one side to the other. also, this photo gives a lovely view along the rosewood line looking inbound between karrabin and wulkuraka. it also manages to be clearer than the photo i posted a few shots earlier of the crossing from virtually the same position!  

the ipswich train arrives on platform 1 at karrabin station; and what a beautiful sign that is! it least i got to use the wifi for the short journey from karrabin to ipswich! and unlike when i used to catch the train the short journey from norman park to park road, the journey from karrabin to ipswich is not as crowded, and you get your choice of seat! there are so many positives that come to mind when i see this photo! despite the fact it is blurry, i cant look at this photo without smiling. 

the beautiful ipswich train stops on platform 1 of karrabin station, for the waiting commuters. i assure you there was more than just me waiting, otherwise i would have got a shot looking back along the platform (there is method to my madness!) it is such a shame idiots throw pain at the trains as they pass, as evidence to the right of the door to this train shows. i honestly dont know what possesses people to engage in destructive behaviour just for fun. there are far more fun things out there to do than to throw paint at moving trains! if that is your idea of fun, clearly you need to get out more. despite the damage to the train, this is still a nice photo.

now for something completely different: karrabin at twilight! blurry, yes, but the sky in this photo was too cool to not include in my blog. i got this photo after my day of placement, and caught the rosewood train back to karrabin from ipswich station. as the rosewood train leaves the station i managed to get a shot of it departing, bound for walloon. it isnt visible in the photo, but emmy was still waiting for me in the car park which is behind platform 1 on the right of the photo.

the rosewood train has gone, the gates have reopened again. i got this photo on the platform 2 side of the level crossing, looking across at the platform 1 side, just to include the awesome looking sky and the green light indicating that humans can now proceed over the tracks. i think the sky at this time of evening makes the photo so much cooler than it actually is. 

it wouldnt be me without another one of these photos would it! standing on the level crossing at karrabin station, looking along the rosewood line outbound from the wulkuraka end of karrabin station, towards the walloon end of the station. the rosewood train has recently left the station bound for walloon. in the bottom left corner some spray paint is on one of the sleepers. it actually says relay, but since the y is cut off, i like to pretend it says relax; as that is such a lovely calming word. relax, chill out, everything will be ok. this university degree is so incredibly stressful (i would hate to know what my cortisol levels are) that eventually you get to a point where you start to look for any form of inspiration that you can. in my case, this is one such example! the sky in this photo looks so much more threatening than it actually was, but it makes for a fantastic photo. platform 1 is on the right, and platform 2 is on the left. naturally, i am the last person left at the station.

you knew this was going to be next didnt you. am i really that predictable? well, i do have obsessive compulsive disorder (or obsessive compulsive order, you shouldnt dis it!) so it was pretty obvious that i would post an image like this to follow the one above. still, obvious as it may have been i think this is actually a pretty cool photo. the track on the left heads inbound to ipswich, and the track on the right heads outbound to rosewood. i love how such a simple photo as this can look so incredibly cool. once again, karrabin station makes the simple look amazing. i really to love trains. there is just something about them. its a trainspotter thing, unless you are one, you just wouldnt understand.

i took this photo on platform 1 at the wulkuraka end of the railway station, looking west along the platform in the direction of walloon. the way the sky has clouded over makes the sunset seem incredibly cool. to exit karrabin station it is actually necessary to cross over the level crossing back to platform 1, so i got this photo on my way back to emmy. such a shame this picture is a touch blurry because it would have been so much more amazing if it were that little bit clearer. 

still on platform 1, i wanted to get a shot of the karrabin station sign at night, though sadly the glow from the text on the sign compromises the legibility of the station name. sorry about that. the wulkuraka end of the station is to the left and the walloon end is to the right.

i tried to rectify the glow from the previous effort by retaking the photo. alas, it doesnt like me, and despite my efforts, the glow remains. i hate the way the televison glows like this if you are watching it without a light on, and i find that if i do try to watch the telly without a light i am far more prone to having seizures. (naturally 3 dimensional movies are not coming i can handle!) i could have possibly tried to photoshop these last few images to make them more resemble what i was hoping for; however, i am refusing to upload photoshopped images because i want this blog to be as natural and raw as possible, so that when those of you who read my blog actually visit these stations, you will be able to see that they look just as they do in my photos. i cant guarantee you will capture a sky quite like this if you are at karrabin of a late afternoon/early evening, but you never know your luck!

this is a slight improvement, however not by much. at least there is no glow like in the previous efforts, though that is simply because i gave up on photographing the station signs and walked the length of platform 1 to get this shot of the rosewood line as it leaves karrabin station from the walloon end. it looks quite lonely doesnt it. the rosewood line is on the left of the photo, and the ipswich line is on the right. i love the rosewood line! it is certainly one of the most fun lines to travel on this network.   

still at the walloon end of platform 1, this time looking back along the platform at the karrabin station from the western end in the direction of wulkuraka. the ipswich line is on the left in the foreground, and the rosewood line is on the right. karrabin station looks pretty descent at night doesnt it! 

it may not be an overly descriptive photo, but there is something likeable about this shot of the karrabin station car park sign. the parking area for karrabin is on the platform 1 side of the station, towards the walloon end of the station. parking is certainly adequate, even if the car park is not overly large. sadly there are no drive through parking spaces (you have to either reverse in or reverse out) but since the station doesnt receive a lot of commuters, you can be pretty safe your car wont get dented or that you will have trouble getting out of your parking space. if i can do it, anyone can (i have to be one of the worst worst car parkers, despite the fact there are a lot of people in our family with the last name of parker! i swear i wasnt taught how to park a car, i believe they just assume that you will be able to work it out! i subscribed to the facebook page brisbanes worst parking; just in case i saw my own vehicle on there. so far, she hasnt appeared yet! (but there are some people out there who really do make my abilities look good!)

i wanted to get another photo of the car park sign, so i did. i again tried to capture the karrabin station sign in the background, but yet again my valiant attempt is foiled by the glow created from the light. you have to give me marks for effort (commonly known as pity marks in exams) but i think i will bow out now before i end up embarrassing myself. clearly this is a battle i cannot win. the glowing sign in question is on platform 2.

i got this photo from the car park near where i had left emmy. i wanted to get a shot from the walloon end of the karrabin railway station, looking back at the station itself. the sky looks beautiful in this photo. the railway line in the foreground is the ipswich line which heads inbound; the line behind this is the rosewood line which heads outbound. on the left of the photo you can see the fence which separates the car park form the rail corridor. karrabin railway station looks beautiful at night; such a shame this shot is a touch blurry!

ok, so the photography is clearly terrible, but i only included this photo as a reverse angle of the previous shot, to look along the rosewood line as it departs karrabin bound for walloon. again, i think the sky is the hero here in this photo, which is a shame in a way because the real hero should be the railway line. still, a sky like that really does deserve to be published in the blog despite how crappy the camera work actually is! the ipswich line is in the foreground, rosewood in the background. i got the photo from the bus shelter in the car park.

another day, another visit to karrabin station. i couldnt end on the previous photo because it would have been a weak finale; and besides, i use karrabin station fairly often, so why not top up the photo tally on my latest visit? exactly! so on this lovely mid morning visit, i decided to revisit a few of the highlights of the station in a brilliant sunlight. i got this photo on the level crossing at the wulkuraka end of the station, looking in the direction of wulkuraka itself. the karrabin station is 180 degrees (pi radians) behind me. the railways line on the left is the ipswich line, and the one on the right is the rosewood line. at least this photo is fairly clear!  

i told you earlier the spray paint said relay, not relax, but i still like to think it says relax. seriously, the work load we have to do in this degree is ridiculous, so time out to relax is vital if you don want to lose your mind. and what better way to relax than to be out visiting beautiful railway stations? i think karrabin is beautiful in its own way; while is may not have the station art of norman park or yeronga, it still has a certain something about it. one thing worth noting here is that platform 2 is on the left still has wooden sleepers under the rosewood line which runs in front of it; while the ipswich line running in front of platform 1 has the newer cement sleepers. it makes for an interesting comparison i think. at the end of platform 2, the sleepers on the rosewood line change to the new cement ones, so it is quite literally just this section of track stretching from the level crossing and in front of platform 2 at karrabin which still has the original old wooden sleepers. i may be a touch ambitious in my interpretation, but perhaps relay means the sleepers are due for replacement?

i wouldnt make a statement like the one above without having the evidence to back it up, and so here it is: taken at the walloon end of platform 2, the rosewood line departs karrabin station with its new cement sleepers, and the old wooden ones are left inside the rail corridor to the left of the photo. i would love to get some of these for my garden some time; i think they would make fantastic garden edges. i didnt have a photo from this end of platform 2 in my blog so far, which is slightly neglectful, so i am glad to have rectified that with this picture. 

again taken at the walloon end of platform 2 at karrabin station, you can see the sleepers in front of the platform are still the wooden ones, which we can assume are due for replacement in the near future (relay?). just near the end of platform 2, the sleepers change from the old wooden ones to the new cement ones. i didnt think there would be any point including such a photo, because it would become redundant as soon as the wooden sleepers were replaced in front of the platform.  

the level crossing as seen from platform 2, looking across at platform 1. the vehicular traffic crosses the rosewood line to the immediate right of this photo and the karrabin railway station itself is to the immediate left. as you can see, the gate is closed and a red human is displaying. it would probably be unwise to cross at this particular moment in time, despite how inviting it looks. it is really good that an alarm sounds when a train is approaching, in case you are a bit daft like me and are so easily distracted and are not paying attention to your surroundings. this crossing is located at the wulkuraka end of the railway station. karrabin station doesnt have a footbridge, so the only way to safely cross between the platforms is via this level crossing.

this is the best part about being a trainspotter; seeing a train. ok i know that sounds really obvious, but i enjoy seeing the railways stations themselves immensely even if i dont get to see a train while i am there. thankfully, i have always managed to get some photos of trains as they arrive or depart the stations i am at, and this is no different. smu 242 is passing over the karrabin level crossing on its way out to rosewood. this isnt technically a rosewood train, because it is running express through the stations to make its way out to rosewood where it can start its journey running inbound to ipswich. this is the model of train that karen likes the least. she calls them sideways trains because of their seating arrangements. i dont really mind which train im on, i always enjoy my journey. 

looks can be deceiving; smu 242 looks as though it is stopped at platform 2 of karrabin station, but that was just very lucky timing on my part for a change. this is actually a pretty descent photo, maybe not quite a wiki entry, but certainly good enough for google images. its just a shame i framed it poorly by having a pole running through the right hand side of the photo. oh well, i was excited to be able to get the photo of the train as it passed through karrabin station.

relax! the train in picture is heading away from karrabin station! i think this is an awesome shot because i am on the same level as the tracks while the train is still visible just beyond the platform. it was incredibly cool to get a shot like this, as all the other stations i have visited where i have been in a similar situation with a level crossing and a train; i havent been able to get a shot like this due to the presence of stray humans invading my shot. i have finally been able to check this particular photo off my list at last! the train hasnt stopped as it passed by platform 2 on its way out to rosewood. 

i thought i should get a photo of the level crossing where the traffic crosses over the rosewood line at the wulkuraka end of karrabin station; and here it is. to the left of the photo the road becomes the karrabin rosewood road. to the right, it becomes dixon street. the karrabin station is to the left of the photo, out of picture.

this is actually a pretty descent attempt at a photo of the vehicular level crossing at karrabin station looking in the direction of wulkuraka. the ipswich line is on the left and the rosewood line is on the right. to the left is karrabin rosewood road; to the right is dixon street. if you zoom in far enough you can see the new generation rollingstock works along the rosewood line within the rail corridor. essentially the construction stretches from wulkuraka station almost as far as karrabin. it will be massive when it is finished, and a real coup for the rosewood line.

i scurried across the crossing to get a shot from the other side of the road looking along the inbound stretch of the rosewood line towards wulkuraka. this time i go down a little bit lower to get a better view of the tracks themselves. i didnt have to get down too low, im not very tall! (incredibly sad, but true). on the left if the inbound track to ipswich, on the right is the outbound track to rosewood. you can see that the sleepers on this portion of the rosewood line have been relayed as the newer cement sleepers, and that the lines match, unlike in the opposite direction!

yeah i am incredibly predictable; i know. i am sure that people who dont know me who are reading this can actually see the obsessive compulsive disorder in my photos. it sort of screams out for all to see. i think the hyperactivity may be evident as well. it is hard for me to tell because half the time i dont even know what is going on inside my own head; so i dont know how others are meant to know or understand if i dont! looking back at karrabin station in the walloon direction from the level crossing; this time the dixon street side is on the left and the karrabin rosewood road is on the right. it is faster for me to get to karrabin station if i drive along the warrego highway and link up with the wulkuraka exit and follow the wulkuraka connection road to the karrabin rosewood road. the car park for karrabin station is on this road, and i can get from home to karrabin station in about 7 minutes. (i may or may not have timed it one day with a stopwatch).

on the platform 1 of karrabin station, near the wulkuraka end of the station is this lovely little garden. the bus stop is just behind this garden, visible to the right of the photo. this is another on of those photos that could be worthy of google images, because it is a fairly descriptive shot of karrabin railway station. im actually pretty happy with how all of these photos have been turning out, even the slightly blurry ones that i can put down to my shaky hands. karrabin station is incredibly photogenic. that tree is absolutely gorgeous! i love nature; actually i love anything that doesnt talk. i think thats why i like plants and animals and trains so much. humans always seem to annoy me, they talk at you and argue with your point of view and often they dont listen when you are trying to explain to them how to use their medication correctly. i often wonder if i have chosen the right profession. considering i only have a few months left of my degree, it is probably a bit late to be having these thoughts!   

because i like gardens, i got another shot of the garden on the platform 1 side of karrabin station. this is taken right near where the buses enter the bus stop section of karrabin station. the car park is a little further along behind where i stood to get this photo. the level crossing can be seen to the right through a gap in the trees.

i think this is a nice shot to finish karrabin station with, since it (once again) includes a station sign and also a tree. this was the last shot i got before i had to hurry home. i wasnt actually at karrabin station on this particular day to catch a train, but was simply there to top up my photo tally for the railway station. i had to hurry home to karen who would probably be wondering where i was by this point, as i had told her i was heading out to get petrol. (adhd anyone?) since the petrol stations on the warrego are close to home, they are very convenient when i have forgotten to get fuel, and since they are in close proximity to the wulkuraka exit, it made for an easy trip to karrabin just for these last few pictures. i think it as worthwhile; perhaps you agree? or perhaps you are on karens side that i should probably go back on dexamphetamine to control my hyperactivity! so far i have managed to get to half way through the fourth year of my degree without dex, and without failing a single assessment piece (lord knows how). not bad for a kid who was pretty close to expulsion from high school! my placement had gone really well, i thoroughly enjoyed my time at the ipswich chemist warehouse, and no, it wasnt because i got to hear the trains traveling on the rosewood line as they passed underneath the store! i must admit that was certainly a highlight for me (and i duly included it in my placement diary) but the real highlight was working with some highly intelligent people who were incredibly encouraging, and even suggested i was working too hard on a few occasions. i had been incredibly nervous about being outside of my comfort zone; which is something i have always tried to avoid doing despite a certain person constantly trying to push me to step outside the box and try new experiences. perhaps she is right, because this was one of the most rewarding experiences i have had. i certainly hope my placement assessment pieces reflect the effort i put in to placement and show how much i enjoyed it. in case it isnt obvious, i put more work into this placement assessment than the previous one, hence only publishing the one blog during placement; unlike last time when nerang and ebbw vale came out in fairly quick succession. i hope the course coordinator marks kindly! i would like to remember karrabin station not just as a convenient rosewood line station near my house, but remember it and its journeys to and from the best placement experience i had in my degree. i truly saved the best for last, and i am incredibly thankful to have had the chance to work with some incredible people. 

i had been receiving views on my blog from all around the world, which i thought was pretty cool, and was enjoying the fact i had readers from other nations who were keen to see photos of railway stations in and around brisbane. my toowong entry proved particularly popular with many nations overseas, as did helensvale and yeronga. in the back of my mind i was a little worried about the popularity of toowong, and i was worried whether i should pull it because of the upcoming g20 summit, after all, toowong is a pretty popular place and could have proved a terrorist threat. after a bit of a debate with myself, i decided not to pull any of my blogs; that was until i published this particular entry. when i first published this blog about karrabin in september, it hadnt occurred to me that this particular entry about a humble little railway station on the rosewood line could pose any kind of security threat with the upcoming g20 summit scheduled for brisbane in november (ironically during our exam block). after only a few days of being published, this entry received a significant number of views from overseas countries which had been in the media recently, and i figured it was best to withdraw this entry until after g20. i was worried that terrorists may use the karrabin entry as a way of assessing the neighbouring amberley airport. i had a feeling that one of the major world leaders would use amberley to arrive (i had suspected putin). perhaps it is arrogant to think the blog would be remotely useful in the wrong hands, but i didnt want to take chances with the lives of important people at stake, and so i had to wait until now, to release karrabin again since g20 has finally wrapped up. 

i was wrong about one thing: it wasnt vladimir putin who landed at amberley, but barack obama. when he was scheduled to land, i made the effort of leaving home at 3am in attempt to capture a glimpse of air force one flying over karrabin station as she arrived at amberley. alas, despite braving the darkness and sitting in the shelter on platform 1 studying for 2 and a half hours, i didnt see it land. i did see marine one buzzing around in circles for a good while, but that wasnt what i had made my special trip for. it felt like a degree of failure to arrive home after 5:30 only to hear obama landed not long before 6am. such a shame; photos of air force one flying over karrabin station would have looked amazing, and would have justified my security threat reasons for delaying this publication. 

not to be deterred; i ventured along the rosewood line on the last day of g20 (the day before my final exam) and managed to see air force one parked at amberley airport. naturally, i have included a few photos i snapped. i also managed to head back on the eve of obamas departure from amberley to attempt to rectify my earlier failure to capture the arrival. i think the results speak for themselves. 

wise decision? i withdrew my entry on karrabin railways station because of security fears on the g20 summit, in the possibility one of the world leaders may have arrived at amberley airport adjacent to the station. i think this photo, taken beside the rosewood line just down from the karrabin station itself proves my decision to be the right one. the overhead wirse of the rosewood line are visible through the bottom of the photo, but they dont detract from the star of this shot. perhaps i could take up plane spotting? 

this plane spotting thing isnt too bad actually. the funny thing is, i wanted to be a pilot, and i still do. i just like trains that little bit more, so i think i will stick to trainspotting. still, when an opportunity to get a photo of air force one presents itself, you take that opportunity, regardless if you have the biggest exam of your degree (and thus your life) less than 24 hours away that you really should be studying for. regardless of the result of the exam, i know i will rest easy knowing that the time taken to get these photos was not time wasted. i also hope barack obama and his crew appreciate my holding off the release of this karrabin blog out of fears for his safety. i certainly appreciate him arriving at amberley to give me the opportunity to update karrabin with this interesting and appropriate footnote which justifies my decision to delay the release of this particular entry. thanks bazza.

i went back to the karrabin station to try to get a shot of air force one as it was taking off on its way back to the united states. i positioned myself somewhat precariously between the shelter on platform 1 and the bus stop shelter behind it, to allow me to elevate myself to a height which made it possible to get some descent photos. i could hear the engines of air force one as she prepared for take off. just as i was getting excited about the prospect of seeing the most famous airliner in the world, the rosewood train arrived on platform 2. how could i not get a photo? after all, this is a blog about trainspotting, even if it has been temporarily hijacked for plane spotting. 

we have lift off. i am not used to captioning photos of planes, as i am more of a train person, but i really think this shot speaks for itself. taken from platform 1 at karrabin railway station on the rosewood line; perhaps this photo may very well make karrabin station famous? i highly doubt it, but still, this would have to go close to shot of the blog. it seems a little harsh for some of my earlier photos to be replaced as the best photo in this entry, but this is no ordinary plane. i had mentioned to people before that karrabin railway station was a useful place to go to get photos of the aircraft coming and going at amberley. for those who may have doubted me: i rest my case.  

 air fore one majestically flies away from amberley airport, bound for hawaii for a refueling. here she is rising above the trees which separate the airport from the rosewood line. the overhead wires of the rosewood line above karrabin station are visible at the top of the photo. for a trainspotter i dont think this is a bad effort at plane spotting. still, i dont think there is any risk i will turn. i love trains a bit too much.

just when you think it cant get any better: it does. shot of the blog? yeah there is a fair bet that this one could very well take that title. the sun is in the background creating an epic contrast to the platform below. look at the bottom of the photo in the middle, see the karrabin station sign? i think that is proof enough that if you are a plane spotter, karrabin is the place to be. it is also a pretty cool place to go to get photos of trains too, just in case youre into that sort of thing. there are some vehicles pictured near the karrabin station sign; other people had the same idea as me, though i was the only one who was actually at the station. other people had staked out the car park near emmy, and there were police positioned behind me adjacent the bus stop (i thought they may have asked me to get off the top of the shelter, but they didnt). i think i am pretty pleased with this effort; it was certainly a lot more fun than studying for my final ever pharmacy exam! i love the fact that air force one positioned itself beautifully between the overhead wires of the rosewood line. simply amazing timing. 

if the last shot wasnt shot of the blog, then perhaps this one is; though i think the pervious shot was slightly more epic; this one has a certain aura about it. i love how the sun majestically illuminates the sky and you can see the karrabin railway station and the rosewood line in the same photo as a air force one. yeah; that is not a miss print. i was shaking so much as i got these photos, i honestly do not know how they turned out this clear! i hope president obama enjoyed brisbane as much as i enjoyed staking out a chance to photograph his plane!

this time with a bit of a zoom and very poor framing, i still managed to get part of the rosewood line wires in the photo (unintentional, but damn proud they are there). if people from america ever read this, i will be proud of my efforts to promote karrabin and the rosewood railway line to them. i think i made the correct decision in withdrawing karrabin out of fears for the safety of any world leader who may have arrived via amberley. having the opportunity to get a photo like this and be able to add it in as a part of this post script has been a real honour.   

i zoomed as far as my little camera would let me. not a bad effort for a relatively cheap camera in comparison to that of a few of my friends who are much more serious about their photography. taken from on top of the shelter on platform 1 at karrabin (please dont get cranky at me. it is air force one for goodness sake! i didnt know if my dodgy knee would even allow me to climb up, but it did. imagine what i could be capable of if i didnt need a complete knee reconstruction?) i got the photo as she flew over the rosewood line in the direction of my house. 

seeya bazza. barack obama and air force one have departed amberley airport, and australia, after the g20 summit. it was because of security fears around the airport that i withheld karrabin after publishing it briefly in september, only to withdraw it within 24 hours of its release. having a chance to release this blog entry again, with an updated section on air force one, has made the decision to withhold it completely justified. i am sorry to hold it over so long, but i am sure you can appreciate my reasoning, particularly when there are links to maps included in my background research above. i appreciate the patience my regular readers have had with me, and despite probably thinking the delay was due to assessment and study load (as it should have been) you now know the reason for the hold up. as for where i got to in october, perhaps i could have published it because it was no security threat at all as far as i could see; but for reasons of chronology, i wanted to release karrabin before my next journey was revealed to the world.