A Ferry Ride back to Melbourne

12th February 2018

Sadly, our brief holiday in Tasmania has come to an end, and this morning we drove to the Devonport Ferry terminal to catch the Spirit of Tasmania back to Melbourne. It was only about a 10 minute drive from our motel, so we were there at around 7.30am, for a 9 am departure. Unlike our experience at the Melbourne terminal, the cars were moving through the carpark and were already driving on board. To our great surprise, we left 30 minutes early, as obviously everyone was on board.

Turning around to leave Devonport

Similar to our trip across the straight, the seas were benign and the wind no stronger than 20-25 knots. It made for a smooth passage with a bit of movement of you were walking around at times.

Life on board the "Spirit"

On this leg, we decided to take advantage of the cinemas on board and booked a movie at 3.30pm, called "3 Billboards outside Ebbing", an interesting story with great acting.

We arrived at Port Melbourne at 6.30 pm, and tucked in just ahead of the cruise ship "Crystal Symphony", which was tied up on the same side of the dock, but on the outer berth. Our friends Mark and Sue are on the Crystal Symphony heading from Fremantle to Sydney. It was quite a surprise to see their ship in Melbourne when we arrived.

Not surprisingly, we didn't get a chance to catch up. They are leaving port tomorrow evening at 6pm for Burnie in Tasmania.

There doesn't seem to be any quick process for unloading all of the vehicles off The Spirit, but we are on our way at around 7.10pm, and arrive at our accommodation in Springvale at 8.00pm. We booked into the Waltzing Matilda, a bit of a blast from  the past when we lived in Melbourne. It is now a mega gaming complex and fortunately the motel accommodation is tucked away from the mainstream pub.

Dinner was at the bistro, ands we had a couple of excellent steaks at very competitive prices (pokies have some benefits!). We have a decent drive ahead of us tomorrow and a game of golf , so it is an early night.