The day has arrived! We are off on our next adventure with
our little caravan! It feels strange to set off without having it in tow, but
it makes for good speed to Devonport for our 9:00 am sailing. We want to be
there before 8:15, so we go full speed ahead and get there by 7:45. A bit of
anxiety does not come astray… Anyway, we were waved through and drove straight
onto a three-quarters empty deck, hearing later that only 2 out of 5 passenger
vehicle decks were being used on this trip. It must have been the other one
that was full. We were installed in our seat-of-choice, watching a car arrive
at 8:12 at the check-in and obviously not being allowed to board. Sure enough,
we were moving off the wharf at 8:28 for our 9:00 sailing!! Another grrrr!! to
add to the many we have concerning the TT-Line.
Our seat-of-choice turned out not to be, so we moved to our
new seat-of-choice at the stern of the boat. We lasted an hour there before moving
to our final seat-of-choice two decks below and out of the cold draught which
blew around that upper deck. Interpersonal relationships were maintained in a
cordial way throughout the seat changes. Our final s-o-c allowed us to sit and
read and sit and sleep and sit and stare at the (too-docile) Bass Strait. We
are agreed that the daytime ferry journey is just a tad boring……
Port Phillip Bay was reached after which the ferry lost most
of its speed as it inched its way towards Port Melbourne. We appreciate that it
is necessary to slow the ferry down in Port Phillip Bay on account of not
disturbing the yellow-toed sea-urchin or some such, but it does add an hour or
two to the already boring experience.
Last on, (almost) first off at Port Melbourne and by 7 pm we
were well underway on the road to Ballarat and Beaufort. We marvelled at our
new Garmin GPS with its understated Australian voice, and, fickle people that
we are, totally forgot the lovely British Serena who had guided us for so long
and so far with our discarded TomTom. The Garmin gave us lovely pictures of the
Melbourne freeway system as it guided us smoothly on to the Western Highway.
At Ballarat we made a quick stop at MacDonalds to do away with having to organise an evening meal. Then the final run into Beaufort. At the caravan park we found the keys they had left for us, but would we find the caravan?? Yes, there it was, under its cover, looking as good as when we left it. We whipped off the cover (well, a slow-motion whip, anyway) and attached it to the Ranger and towed it 100 metres to our en-suite site. We were caravanning again! Inside looked good and clean and it was just good to be back.
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