Thursday 14 April 2016

Our wonderful Tassie Holiday

I thought that I would be updating the blog regularly as we travelled around, but we have had such a wonderful busy time that I have just have not had the time, so I will try to catch it up a bit  now.
We left home  last Wednesday and had the night with our daughter, partner and granddaughters  , and left her with our  old blue girl to take care of while we were away. I know she will be happy there.
On Thursday morning we headed off to Melbourne, It  was about a 7 hour drive.
We found a  reasonable motel only about 5 minutes from the  dock where we were to  board the ferry  the next morning. We headed off before daylight  to  line up with all the other cars .
We  were checked out by the port security, making sure we weren't carrying dangerous goods or fresh produce.

And we waited, and waited, it felt like forever until we boarded.
And finally we were on.
This ferry holds  about 1000 passengers and 500 cars along with all the  truck trailers that were loaded on as well.It suprised me how big it was and how many cars ect went  in underneath.
We  sailed out of  Melbourne about 9.15 am heading for Devonport Tasmania.
We had booked the "luxury" recliners for the day crossing, but they were not great, view was restricted and we decided to just roam the ship and only pop back to the chairs  periodically.
At about 2pm in the afternoon, we passed the other "Spirit Of Tasmania " ferry travelling the other way.
Our ferry had several bars and lounge areas, a beautiful restaurant, a snack bar, kids play  and games area and two 48 seat cinemas showing good movies.
It was a smooth crossing of Bass straight, and as the sun started to sink on the horizon all the keen photographers were out on deck just like me, trying to catch those last glorious pictures.
( I know ! I am a sunrise and sunset freak) :-)  :-)  :-)
And finally at about 7.30 pm we slowly pulled into the  dock at Devonport  looking out onto the city's lights.
We  finally were  allowed to disembark with our car( we were the last level off) and  quickly found our motel and crashed for the night. It was a huge few days, travelling to Melbourne  and then the long day crossing Bass Strait  to Devonport.
Let the holiday begin   !!!
Take care everyone,
Cheers
Jane.

6 comments:

  1. i only spent a week in tassie back in February & it wasn't long enough.
    the penal buildings were of great interest & both Port Arthur & the Cascades Female Factory have lists of convicts who went there, i haven't got anything up on my blog about it yet, am still working on getting the photos. we looked up all our family names & came across a few hits. the Female Factory is struggling, doesn't get as many visitors as Port Arthur.
    have a wonderful holiday
    thanx for sharing

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    1. It is such a beautiful state of our wonderful country Selina, the history is amazing,I have family links way back , but mine were in hobart not Port Arthur.I have visited places connected to my family and will show them in the next few blogs..I certainly will return...we are here for 11 days, but no where near enough...cheers Jane.☺☺

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  2. Gosh if i had known you were down there on the dock waiting, i would have arranged to meet you. Enjoy your trip. Looking forward to lots of photos.

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    1. Even though we were there ages, it did pass quickly as there were lots of different things for us to see and we were chatting to others waiting also... but thank you. :-) :-)
      Cheers.

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  3. Thank you for sharing your photos. It's like travelling with you and seeing all the sights. I've never been to Tasmania (in fact I have never been to the southern hemisphere) so I look forward to seeing your photos now you are there.
    Have a lovely time and stay safe,
    Lisca

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    1. Thanks Lisca, sorry I have been a little delayed in answering... just having too much fun. :-) :-)
      Cheers
      Jane.

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