10 - 12 December 2014 - Ferry and travelling to Adelaide

We packed up and headed back to Devonport where we started our tour of Tasmania. It was a short drive of about 100 kms and when we arrived is was quite warm. We visited the visitor centre and had a cup of coffee and a toasted sandwitch before visiting the Simon Martin Whips workshop as Vlasta has been looking for a leather belt for ages. They did not have what she was looking for but they offered to make one right away. We chose exactly what she wanted and watched as it was made from scratch in about 15 minutes by Simon Martin himself. What a delighful guy and shop with all sorts of great leather goodies. Next we tried to find a place to park and spend the last hour or so by the sea before boarding the ferry but was unable to find such a place so we ended up joining the queue for the ferry early. After boarding we had a glass of wine and then treated ourselves to a scrumptious meal in the restaurant before heading to bed.

The crossing of the Bass Strait was very smooth but we did not sleep well and we were up at 5 am to watch the sunrise as we approached Melbourne. The weather was bleak and typical of Melbourne. After disembarking at 7 am we headed directly out of the city which was quite painless and as we headed further west the weather slowly cleared. We had breakfast at a roadhouse and continued on our way. Just before the South Australian border we came across a pink lake and we took the customary photos before crossing into South Australia. We have now been in every state and territory in the country! We were getting tired after a short night and over 500 kms of driving so we just had to stop for the night in a town called Keith! We had supper and dropped into bed.

Next morning we set out for Adelaide. We were both feeling rather weary but fortunately the drive was not too long with Vlasta taking the first driving stint. The entry into Adelaide from the east is down a very long and steep pass, through a tunnel and into the city. This road was not expected and fortunately we had changed drivers and Keith was driving when we hit this road and the city. We checked into our caravan park which was near Port Adelaide on the coast in a suburb called Semaphore. We had lunch, a nap, and then did some grocery shopping before taking a stroll along the beach before drinks and dinner.

Our ferry

An award winning whip in the workshop

Dinner on the ferry

Arriving in Melbourne

The Keith caravan park

Yay, a town named after me!

18 - 19 November 2014 - Ferry to Tasmania

We had arranged a late checkout from our caravan park so we had a late rise and breakfast. We quickly went to Officeworks to buy a new kettle and some USB thumb drives as I wanted to give Dave some e-books. We dropped off the USB drive and then prepared for our ferry ride to Tasmania. We needed to be at the ferry terminal no earlier than 5 pm, so we headed out at 4 pm with the caravan in tow. We arrived right on 5 pm and went through customs, collected our boarding passes then waited for about an hour before we drove the caravan on board. We had to drive up a steep ramp up and over the bow of the ferry and into the depths of the ferry. It was a tight fit but we managed well and headed to our cabin.

After dropping off our overnight stuff in the cabin we explored the ferry. There was not a lot to look at so we ended up having a beer to celebrate before heading to the buffet restaurant for dinner. We ate too much but enjoyed the view as we steamed across the bay to the open sea. We were rather tired and it was getting late so we decided to turn in for the night. Sometime shortly after hitting the sack the sea became quite rough but fortunately it did not affect us.

We were up early in the morning (4:30) to shower and watch the sun rise as we approached Davenport for the 6am docking.

Boarding the ferry

Leaving Mebourne on the Spirit of Tasmania

Port Phillip Bay

Sunrise just before arriving in Devonport

Arriving in Devonport