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.
i only spent a week in tassie back in February & it wasn't long enough.
ReplyDeletethe 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
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.☺☺
DeleteGosh 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.
ReplyDeleteEven 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. :-) :-)
DeleteCheers.
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.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely time and stay safe,
Lisca
Thanks Lisca, sorry I have been a little delayed in answering... just having too much fun. :-) :-)
DeleteCheers
Jane.