Hadspen to Young

Monday, 16 June 2014

We awoke to very thick fog which had descended on very thick frost – not exactly a warm start to the day.  As we weren’t in a hurry to leave, there was time for a quick load of washing – it felt so strange to be ironing a shirt whilst wearing a dumper, having had to remove my gloves.  By the time we were hitched up, the rain had started and followed us almost to Latrobe, as did the fog.  We parked at one end of Latrobe and walked to the other – mainly to buy a roll to eat on board, but also for some exercise in the brisk air.  Following lunch at the Cherry Shed, we drove to Shearwater to spend the afternoon visiting friends.

Back to Devonport by 5.00 pm, and we joined the ever-so-slow caravan queue to check in for the Spirit of Tasmania.  After waiting nearly 40 minutes, we were very quickly processed and asked why we were so quick and everyone else was so slow.  The nice man said it was because we had booked the correct length!  A lot of people obviously try and cheat the system but TT Line’s laser soon finds them out.  The voyage certainly wasn’t fully booked.  Unfortunately, the calm seas didn’t last very long and by 9.30 pm the ship was rolling quite markedly.  It wasn’t long before pitching was added to the motion – not nice.  One of us slept very soundly, the other didn’t.

 

Tuesday, 17 June 2014

After finally falling asleep for a couple of hours, I was rudely awakened at 5.00 am by someone’s (wont mention his name) phone letting us know that it had a flat battery.  Ten minutes later, the said owner of said phone decided he had an upset tummy and retired to the ensuite bathroom, not to be seen for half an hour.  After reappearing for five minutes, it was back to the little room.  I’m sure it was only the thought that I would have to drive off the ship and through Melbourne that hastened his recovery!

Melbourne was cold, dark and wet as we disembarked and followed our planned route to the Citylink Expressway – we were sure we would miss the 3 metre underpass this year.  Not to be, we discovered yet another one, so it was shutty eyes and hopey for best.  We stopped at a service centre at Wallen for some much needed coffee and breakfast – the kettle had its annual airing before being returned to the back of the cupboard.

The clouds and rain cleared and we had beautiful driving conditions for the remainder of the day.  Our second stop was also at a roadhouse in the Glenrowen area and we changed drivers here.  After refueling, I followed the exit sign near the diesel pumps and ended up on the road to Wangaratta, with no chance of getting back on the motorway.  One of us stayed very calm and the other had a panic attack as I proceeded calmly down the main street of Wangaratta.  A shirt change was needed at our next stop!  We continued along the Hume Motorway until just past Gundagai (Cat didn’t want to see the Dog on the Tuckerbox again) when we turned off at a place called Coolac.  Not much at Coolac apart from a couple of houses.  However, it was here that we both experienced a new sight – a very optimistic long necked tortoise which had decided to cross the road.  Fortunately, there was no traffic and we were able to swerve around it, so hopefully it managed to get across before becoming a mark on the road.

We continued on through some beautiful, lush, bright green farmland – the black cattle look so lovely against the grass – to Cootamundra (the wattles are just starting to flower) and then to Young for our overnight stop.  We are staying at the Young Tourist Park, which is a very nice spark, grassy with shady trees, nice amenities, a large site with slab and very friendly and helpful owners.

It has been a very long day and we have covered about 600 kms, but we are now well on our way and will have shorter journeys from now on.