Departure

20 June – Friday

A relaxed morning spent loading the final bits and pieces into the caravan, a couple of goodbyes to Emma and Diane, a quick mow of the lawn and we departed home at 12.10pm. After such a cold, icy and gloomy week weatherwise, the sun was shining and the sky was clear, of course.

Drove directly to Ulverstone and recovered Les’ down jacket from Gene Raspin (another story all of its own!) and then bought fish and chips for tea to eat at Les’ mother’s house. Eventually we arrived at the ferry terminal at 6.30pm, collected our boarding passes, were inspected by a security man (I think he only wanted to look inside the caravan as he certainly didn’t conduct a "security" inspection) and drove straight onto the Spirit of Tasmania.

What a change from the previous voyage (the ship broke down in the middle of Bass Strait), plenty of room around the vehicles, reasonable size cabin and ensuite, well appointed public areas with lots of television screens – which were showing programs originating in Alice Springs! The weather wasn't too bad, it was fairly calm before we went to bed and only moved up and down during the night - noticed during the many waking periods!