Torquay to Davenport

Day 313

A hazy start to the morning but we are treated to a lovely sunrise over the ocean and after packing up and hanging about on the sea front for a while we start the drive into Melbourne.

It’s not that far but the traffic is busy and so by the time we actually approach the city and cross the Westgate bridge it is nearing rush hour.

Not to worry we think, we have the address we are heading for and Tom should see us right. Of course a second later we take a wrong turn off the highway and find ourselves driving right through the heart of the city during rush hour on a Friday afternoon!

Battle through the traffic, past Federation square and the MCG and finally arrive at Carmen’s cousin Kimberley’s house an hour or so later than we had originally thought.

We are welcomed in like old friends even though Carmen hasn’t seen her cousin in almost 15 years and spend our evening catching up on family gossip and eating pizza (our first proper pizza in 10 months!).

To round out a lovely evening we even get the pleasure of sleeping in a real bed and drift off into a deep and welcome sleep.

Day 314

After a night in a real bed wake up feeling refreshed and ready for anything and after spending the morning with Kimberley we head over to our good friends from Sydney Tom and Kate’s house in the afternoon (appearing in the pictures from our leaving party) for a BBQ and a few drinks. Luckily their house is just up the road from Kimberley’s and so a short bus ride and we are there. Only recently moved to Melbourne they have landed themselves a lovely house with plenty of room to start a family or to have friends to stay over (when they get back from Tassie) and we spend the afternoon and well into the night eating , drinking and reminiscing about the good old days (we used to live in the same building in Sydney) finally catching a taxi home and pouring ourselves back into the warm embrace of the real bed again.

Day 315

A brunch date this morning and we both struggle out of bed with sore heads (we are out of practice) and for a minute consider cancelling but instead force ourselves onto the train and across town to meet Carmen’s former workmates Vilka and Clare. Turns out they have had a bit of a night as well and so all feeling a bit hungover we queue up and take our seats in a popular café where we order and subsequently devour a delicious bacon and eggs. We all feel a whole lot better and after saying our farewells the return journey on the train is a lot easier.

Spend the afternoon sorting Polly out for her trip across the Bass Strait to Tasmania and are treated to a wonderful Moroccan chicken dinner cooked by Kimberley in the evening. The ferry is due to leave at 9am in the morning and so we retire for an early night ahead of a 5am start and just as we are getting into bed I decide to check my emails and lucky I did.

There is a message from the ferry company saying the boat has been delayed and will not be arriving into Melbourne until 12pm with boarding commencing after that! Up we both get again and re-join a surprised Kimberley back in front of the tele where we manage to catch the end of the film we were all watching.

Day 316

With no rush in the morning we enjoy a bit of a lie in before saying our goodbyes to Kimberley as she heads off to work for the day and spend our morning enjoying a leisurely breakfast and some day time tv.  We make our way down to port Melbourne in the early afternoon and join the queue of cars waiting to board the ‘Spirit of Tasmania I’ amongst which are some pretty annoyed looking faces (they must not have read their emails the night before).

The queue seems to move reasonably quickly and before we know it we are parked up somewhere in the bowels of the ship and are making our way to our ‘Ocean recliner’ seats (think big aeroplane seats).

Now Carmen had been worried about getting seasick and so had brought herself some travel pills and following the instructions had duly taken two before we boarded. Almost as soon as we made it to our seats she began to feel queasy, came over a funny shade of green and had to have a lie down, all whilst we were safely tied up to the dockside!! (Meanwhile I was trying not to laugh).

With a loud ‘parp’ from the ship’s horn we were off and whilst I went up on deck to wave goodbye to Melbourne Carmen stayed below in her seat trying not to use the sick bag.

I am happy to say that after a little sleep she got her sea legs and shortly after was up and about like nothing had ever happened. Due to the late departure (and I think to placate some of the angry looking faces) we were all offered a free dinner in the evening and so in between watching a lecture on the National Parks of Tasmania and passing the ‘Spirit of Tasmania II’ we made our way to the restaurant and helped ourselves to a feast of chicken wings, quiche and roast vegetables all smothered in gravy (very nice it was too).

Got our heads down for a bit of a kip in the evening and finally pulled in to Devenport about 1am where after passing through the cursory quarantine check we made our way to the campsite, set up and are not tucked up in bed until 3am.

Day 317

After our late night we decide to spend a full day in Devenport, mainly so that we can have a lie in but also partly so that we can get Polly’s roadworthy certificate from a mechanic as our registration is coming up at the end of the month. The mechanic has been booked for early afternoon and so we get to have our lie in and after a protracted period of showering and breakfast we head into town and drop Polly off. We have a stroll around and look through the shops at things we can neither afford nor have room for and after a couple of hours head back to the mechanic to pick her up.

No problems with the van mechanically but the rules are slightly different in Tassie and so we are told we need to have the gas and electrics checked over as well before we can be issued with the certificate. We put on our best surprised faces and the mechanic (who is actually a really nice bloke) rings around for us to try and find an electrician and a gas fitter to have a look over her. He manages to sort both out and we have an appointment with the gas man at 7.30am tomorrow morning and then an electrician will meet up back at the garage at 9am to check that over and we can get the certificate and be on our way. Slightly annoyed that we have to jump through these extra hoops (and get up early again) we return to the campsite, cook some dinner and get another early night.