Journey to board a ship - Preamble to our Tasmanian Trip 24/2/2015 - 1/3/2015 (Days 1 to 6)

We started our 1760 kilometre journey from Brisbane to Melbourne, our boarding destination for the ferry to Tasmania, on 24 February 2015.  What a long way to go to board a boat!

We took the New England Highway initially, staying our first night in Glen Aplin, south of Stanthorpe.  It is fruit picking time in the Granite Belt and the back-packers were in evidence at the caravan park and there was fruit on the trees.

On our second night out we stayed at Gunnedah as we moved westward from Tamworth to intersect with the Newell Highway.  There was some useful rain overnight at Gunnedah, which would have helped the already well presented countryside.

The outstanding feature of the drive to our third night stopping place, Parkes, was the locust swarms.  The first thing we did on our arrival was clean the car and the front of the caravan, even before setting up camp.

The following night was spent in Jerilderie.  It is in the Riverina, Australia’s famous rice growing area.

Shepparton was our next stop, a short 145km drive from Jerilderie and quite close to Melbourne.

200km from Shepparton the next day, had us in Melbourne.  We detoured slightly to Nagambie to fill in some time and saw Nagambie Lake and the statue of the famous sprinter, Black Caviar, on its shoreline.

010315 Racing on Lake Nagambie

010315 The statue of Black Caviar at Nagambie in Victoria

010315 Black Caviar's lineage  

With the help of a Melbourne friend, we made our way to Station Pier, through extremely heavy Sunday afternoon Melbourne traffic.  The boarding arrangements were horrific and it took us two hours to board the Spirit of Tasmania.

010315 The "Spirit of Tasmania"

The ship was fully loaded and there was not much space between vehicles - quite an experience.

010315 On the "Spirit of Tasmania" looking aft

010315 On the "Spirit of Tasmania" looking for'ard

010315 On the "Spirit of Tasmania" looking aft
from the other side of the van

There wasn't much room in the cabin either.

010315 Our cabin in the "Spirit of Tasmania"

010315 The corridor outside our cabin on the "Spirit of Tasmania"

After an evening meal at the Captain’s Table – the name of the restaurant – we settled down in our small cabin for the 9 hour trip across Bass Strait to Devonport in Tasmania.  The voyage was noticeably rough at times, which gave us interrupted sleeps but no seasickness, thank goodness.

We arrived in Devonport at 6.00am to a sunny day, a temperature of 11 degrees, and a lazy, cool breeze.

010315 Leaving the "bowels" of the "Spirit of Tasmania"

Our Tasmanian adventure has begun.  It became increasingly overcast during the day and, alas, it didn't warm up!