Heading for the Spirit of Tasmania.

Monday Sept 4^th, 2017.

Not far to go today from Nagambie to Melbourne, about a 2 hour drive. First thing though, I want to take another photo of the Black Caviar statue down by the lake, due to the setting sun yesterday, I didn’t get the angle with his name plate on the plinth.

Melbourne is very different to Sydney. One minute, you’re out in the bush, the next, you’re on a 4 lane highway! The original plan had been to go to Savers at Footscray and look for a cheap Thermos, but we picked one up in Albury, so Trevor thought we no longer needed to go to Savers. Really??!! Pass an opportunity to go to Savers?? I don’t think so!! Anyway, he’s the navigator and I’m the driver, stressed to the max, driving in a city where I’ve only ever caught a train or tram, or be driven by someone who knows what they’re doing! We get to Footscray and it’s blowing a gale, there’s a strong wind warning for most of Victoria today and we hear later that it’s snowing in parts of Tassie! Brrrrr! Savers is really busy, probably due to the weather and I’m not really in the mood for it after the stresses of the drive, so, with hunger calling we head off back to the car and eat our picnic lunch. Yes, in the carpark of Footscray Plaza!! Liquorland at FP is out of both the bottles of spirits that I was going to take to Tassie, so after some thought, I remember that there’s a Liquorland at Yarraville, Patrick’s local supermarket. It would have been nice to go into the village, but parking is always a challenge, so we settle for the newer centre. Must be a different demographic over here, both the spirits I want are on the shelf, and both on sale. Score!! Way too early to be anywhere near the pier, so we sit at Antipasti Deli and Café and have a coffee. That kills a bit more time. Grab some fuel and bite the bullet to cross the Westgate Bridge and get closer to Port Melbourne. I know there’s a Bunnings close by, and also having read that parking around this neck of the woods close to the pier is all ticket parking it’s happy days when we find we can park on the street across the road from Bunnings for as long as we want, for free! I head over there and walk a few laps just to get my steps up for the day, and it feels good to be walking instead of sitting in the car. I got a text message from SpoT to say that boarding would commence at 5.30pm, not 5pm as advertised due to ‘unforseen circumstances’. Something involving a fire truck we discover later.

According to Google maps it’s about a 5 minute drive to the pier from where we are, so allowing a bit extra for traffic, we set off about 5.15 and find ourselves in the queue, but fairly close to the pier, so in 2 hours, we are on board, bags dumped in our cabin (8010) and glasses charged! Not a bad effort. Dinner is quite good in the restaurant, I forget the restaurant name, but options are limited if you don’t eat there. $24.50 is the price for an adult and you can help yourself to one plate of food. Plenty. Good vegetarian options too.

It’s been a long and stressful day, and looking at a very early start tomorrow, so by 10pm we’re in bed. The Captain announced that we should hit Bass Strait around 10pm and then we’ll notice the swell. The seas are forecast to be 3-5m, so should be a comfortable crossing. At 10.15 I was awakened by the pitching of the boat and a couple of times I thought I wasn’t in contact with the mattress! But still felt like I slept ok.