Spirit of Tasmania

 28 - 29 January 2025

Our time in Tasmania had finally come to an end and it was time to return to the mainland. We spent the last couple of days sorting, tidying and packing, and finished with a quiet night at home with the girls. We planned to leave fairly early so that we could do some sight-seeing along the way from Hobart to Devonport.

We finished packing the car, said our final goodbyes and were ready to leave just after 9:00am. We had about 8 hours to get to Devonport so made our first stop not far away at Gould's Lagoon. This is a great birdwatching spot that we have been to a number of times, but it wasn't as productive as we had hoped.

From there we travelled north along the Midland Highway and turned off into Oatlands. Pectoral sandpipers had been reported at Lake Dulverton so we drove around the lake to the spot where they should have been. It was cold and windy, but Mick found them and took a few photos before retreating to the warmth of the car. It was getting close to lunch time so we drove to a picnic spot and ate in the car. It was just too miserable to be outside.

Our next stop was Liffey Falls. Again Mick was hoping to do some birding so we drove up through Campbell Town, and then turned off to travel through Cressy and Liffey then on to the falls. We were surprised at the number of people who were there on such a cold, windy day and a little disappointed - it's never easy getting photos of birds when there's heaps of people about. We walked to the Tall Tree and a bit beyond, but didn't walk down to the falls.

We left Liffey Falls and drove through Quamby Brook to Deloraine. We had planned to visit the Tasmanian Arboretum at Eugenana near Devonport but realised we wouldn't have time. We stopped at Elizabeth Town for afternoon tea then made our way to East Devonport. We didn't want to be at the boat too early so we killed a bit more time down on the beach.

We timed our arrival at the Spirit of Tasmania perfectly - we checked in, went through the security check and were directed straight to the ship. We only had to wait a few minutes before we were able to drive on, once again to one of the bottom two vehicle decks. Expertly directed in the small space, we were soon on our way up to our cabin, before retiring the bar for a drink or two.

A farewell drink

We ate the dinner we had brought with us and settled in for the night. We'd had a big day so were both quite tired. We always expect it to be rougher than it turns out to be and this crossing of Bass Strait was no exception.

We arrived at Geelong terminal and we were soon on our way to Bendigo to collect the camper trailer - but first we had another spot of birding to do.

Return to Tasmania

4 – 5 April 2023

We left Little Desert ahead of schedule and drove back through Nhill, then the GPS took us along a number of “C” roads towards St Arnaud where we stopped for a coffee and to pick up some bread rolls to have later in the day. Meals are available on the Spirit of Tasmania but we decided to have a pub lunch along the way, then salad rolls for dinner onboard.

We made it into Bendigo on schedule and settled the trailer into the storage facility we have used a number of times. On a recommendation we headed to a nearby hotel for a very good lunch, at seniors prices. Our timing was perfect and we had time to stop again in Daylesford for a look around. We’ve stopped there before, but always on a weekend when it has been crazy busy, so it was nice to be there mid-week when it was just moderately busy.

From Daylesford it was on to the Corio Bay terminal to board the Spirit of Tasmania for our overnight sail to Tasmania. Once onboard we headed up to the bar for a couple of drinks before settling into our cabin to have our bread rolls for dinner and to watch an episode we’d downloaded from a streaming service.

We always check the forecast and it looked like we would have a very smooth crossing this time – and it was indeed. I think it was the smoothest we have ever had – at times you couldn’t even feel the gentle rocking of the boat. We were lucky to have our car in Deck 5 so we were among the first off at Devonport in the morning. We decided to go somewhere for a nice breakfast and as luck would have it, we would be at House of Anvers at about the time they opened.

                                                  Who doesn't like ice cream for beakfast?

Anvers is best known for their chocolates but they do a great breakfast too – eggs benedict for Mick and apple crumble French toast for me, as well as a hot chocolate! Absolutely delicious and very filling. Back on the road and we drove straight through to Hobart where we would spend the next few months with our daughters.

The Final Leg – Maldon to Geelong

2 – 3 December 2022

We found our cabin in the caravan park at Maldon and to say we were underwhelmed would be a big overstatement. It was old, tired and not particularly clean in some parts. It was, however, adequate for our overnighter before sailing to Tasmania.

We had booked a night sail so we had the whole day to fill in. Unfortunately the time had been changed from 9:30pm to 11:30pm so that day would be a very long one! We started by going into Maldon for a look around and to have morning tea. Maldon retains many of its original buildings from when the town was established at the height of the Victorian gold rush. Many businesses don’t open until 10:30 or 11:00am giving us an indication that this is a town very reliant on weekend tourism. We browsed the town and considered the route we would take to Geelong.

Our next stop was Castlemaine, about 20 kilometres away. Castlemaine is bigger and was a much busier place so we parked in a back street and wandered around the main street. We did some Christmas shopping and found an art exhibition in the very nice visitor information centre before adjourning to a bakery for lunch.

From Castlemaine we set off for Daylesford – a drive of about 40 kilometres. We knew this place would be even busier as we had visited on a previous trip. We didn’t stay long – just a quick walk up the street to browse in a couple of op shops. From there we headed the short distance down the road to Sailor’s Falls. This is a nice spot with a walk down lots of stairs to the falls themselves. Unfortunately the promised loop walk to the spring was closed. It was a really hot day so we weren’t keen on too much walking anyway.

Next stop was Creswick, another 30 kilometre drive. This is a nice small town where we had ice creams followed by a walk up and down the main street. We called in to the Visitor Information Centre to try to find somewhere to spend some time but the place we chose was absolutely full of young people enjoying the swimming area with much gusto. Definitely not what we were hoping for so we made our way to Ballarat, another 20 kilometres away.

Ballarat is a major city and we knew it had a large botanic gardens and lake so that was where we headed. Along the way we found the cheapest fuel we had seen for a very long time – under $2.00 per litre for diesel and more than 25c per litre cheaper than we had seen up the road a bit. Of course we filled up as we didn’t expect to see that sort of price again for a while, if ever.

We spent some time having a look around the botanic gardens, including the glass house with its beautiful array of flowering plants. With time still to spare we took the car to a nearby carwash then returned to the Botanic Gardens to consider our next move. We decided that the best thing to do would be to hang around in the gardens for a bit longer then have dinner in Ballarat before driving to Geelong.

We used a popular review website to choose a pub for dinner and were very pleased with our choice. The Grapes is a small “local” pub which had a really nice, friendly feel. The menu contained lots of variety – without the heavy reliance on deep fried food so often found in pubs. Unusually for a pub, table service was provided and there was not a single gaming machine within cooee of the dining room. The service was great and the meals fantastic. We would happily dine there again.

We used Google Maps to determine what time we should leave Ballarat and we were finished dinner and ready to leave shortly ahead of time. We set off for the new Spirit of Tasmania departure point in Geelong. We have always found the drive into and through Melbourne to be very stressful so we were hoping the new port would prove easier.

Coming in from Ballarat the GPS took us around the outskirts of the city and there was hardly any traffic. Even on a Saturday evening we were expecting more. The directions were easy to follow and we arrived just after check-in had commenced. After a very long day we were glad to have the end finally in sight. The bonus for us was that the weather forecast was for a very smooth crossing. We were on board in time for a nightcap before settling into our cabin which was right at the pointy end of the boat. Because of the location we were not permitted to have the blinds open with the lights on to watch our progress across the bay but the late night departure meant we were asleep before too long anyway.

The Last Leg - Queenscliff to Tasmania

Queenscliff
12 - 14 December 2018

Rain was forecast, but from the afternoon so we were able to get packed up with the canvas dry. The last thing we wanted when storing the trailer was to have wet canvas which would be very stinky and mouldy by the time we returned in a couple of months time. We left Werribbee and tackled the freeways to get the camper trailer to a storage facility on the outskirts of Melbourne. The sky remained clear all the way there and for the rest of our journey back down the Belleraine Peninsular to a cabin in a caravan park at Queenscliff.

Our decision to get a cabin was based on the weather forecast and it was the right one. The rain started shortly after our arrival and continued throughout the two days we were there. We had to completely repack the car to accommodate the fridge and various other bits and pieces we had taken out of the trailer for our time in Tasmania. It wasn't much fun doing it in the rain, but it would have been way worse if we had the trailer with us still. We had hoped to do some exploring in the area as we hadn't been there before, but the weather was against us.

We were booked onto the Spirit of Tasmania for a night sail so were grateful we were able to get a later checkout enabling us to have an early lunch before heading into Geelong to kill some time. After an afternoon at the movies -and a parking ticket - we set off for Melbourne earlier than planned due to a severe weather warning.

We could see the storm ahead as we drove along the motorway, but had no idea just how bad it was until we were right in it. Being on the motorway there was no way we could pull over, so with white knuckles and a knot in my stomach, we drove on. Turning off the motorway to make our way to Station Pier lead us to the scariest moments as we found ourselves in the middle of a traffic jam caused by rising water across the intersection ahead and no way around it. Vehicles were driving through it in all directions, some were turning around and a few were stuck in the middle. We opted to drive through as we didn't know where else to go and other high clearance vehicles were getting through. Holding my breath I drove on and around the corner, sticking to the highest point in the middle of the road. More water over the road, but not as bad, saw us crawling along with the rest of the traffic. We were very relieved to arrive at our destination and the queue to check in to the Spirit of Tasmania.

Some of the heaviest rain we had ever experienced at the worst possible time.

Safely onboard at last! You have no idea how welcome these drinks were.

By the time we had boarded, the storm had all but passed and we enjoyed a couple of well-earned relaxing drinks before dinner. The overnight Bass Strait Crossing was not as calm as we hoped, but calmer than we had expected. Arriving in Devonport we had breakfast and met up with daughter Jo and drove the final leg to Hobart where we were to spend about 10 weeks.