Spirit of Tasmania

 9 - 10 December 2021

We left Mount Gambier and crossed into Victoria, ready for the long drive into Melbourne. We found a park in Hamiltion for lunch which we at in the car - partly because of the really cold wind that was blowing. From there we made a toilet stop before we reached Ballarat. Once we were on the motorway it was non-stop into Melbourne - with only a short detour thanks to the GPS sending us in the wrong direction. One day we will get to drive through Melbourne without getting lost.

We had booked a night sail on the Spirit of Tasmania and the current border restrictions meant we had to stay overnight in South Australia and then travel directly to the Spirit of Tasmania without any stop-overs. All on-board facilities (bars, restaurant, shop etc) were closed and travellers were required to remain in cabins at all times. We packed some drinks and some food for our evening meal as well as some muesli bars for breakfast. We also packed a DVD to watch and scrabble cards to help pass the time. 

We arrived at Station Pier about 1/2 hour after check-in had begun and had our border passes checked, our biosecurity quarantine check, then were issued our cabin cards. We then drove on-board and were in our cabin in just a few minutes. It was clear from the slow trickle of cars which we could see from our window that there weren't many passengers compared to previous trips. 

Onboard, we were provided with a "care pack" as well and were grateful for this extra that we hadn't expected - chocolate, cereal and milk, fruit, snack bar, chips and water. The sea was relatively calm and we both slept well throughout the night. In the morning we used the special door tag to summon a member of staff to arrange a coffee. We were pleased with the prompt and friendly service.

We disembarked quickly and had our Covid checks - Tas-E-Travel passes scanned and temperature checks, as well as some questions about how we had travelled to Melbourne and we were on our way.