Tasmania, the hidden jewel of Australia 2010/08/01-15 day14-15 end of trip

We drove to somewhere near Devonport and tried to a campsite or a creek to camp anywhere. In the end, we found one.

Woke up very early because we were supposed to be at the ferry terminal at 7.30am to queue in the car loading section. Got a bit of breakfast. Luckily we managed to find our way without much fuss to the ferry terminal with a map.

Somehow even though we boarded early, the ferry didn’t depart until like 9am???

Guessed what? This is a 9-11hrs ferry ride!!! It’s my maiden longest ferry voyage!!! LOL. Well, luckily i’m not boarding it alone, lol.

From the time i boarded the ferry, i have been exploring the ship as you will see with the pics below.


How much is it for an hour internet usage?? lol…


I’m on board the ship called Spirit of Tasmania. We only bought the day ride ticket, with no seat allocation, no cabins for zzzz, no ocean recliners on the ship deck. Still, there are ways around it, people sleep on the benches…etc.




The upper left pic shows the disconnection of the bridge for boarding cars into the ship.

 
I went around the ship from one end to the other end, climbed all the floors (can’t remember how many levels there are). Explore the decks, and around the ship. Looking at the rescuing/escape boats reminds me of Titanic, lol.

  
When the ship finally set sail, i was basically withstanding the wind at the deck behind looking at Devonport as it became out of sight and then the land became out of sight. Next on, all one can see is the ocean, lol. I spent a bit of time talking to an Oz who came over overnight to Devonport to purposely picked up his son’s boat. What a dad!!!

There’s pretty good facilities on the ship, you can hire entertainment stuffs, pay to use the internet, gift shop, tourism information centre, gaming lounge, kids playroom, games arcade, etc.

And the one i love best and spent a few hours there to kill the time is the on board cinema!!! It’s free, haha. I watched 2 movies there, haha which are the prince of egypt and invictus. I really quite like the movie invictus, quite touching and inspiring!!! Most of all, i love the soundtrack which is now one of my favourite soundtrack.
There’s a few dining places on the ship, deck bars, lounge, main bar, a la carte restaurant and buffet. As the food on board are not cheap, i only bought sausage rolls, they were pretty good, haha. Jono spent some time online, Alex reads the newspaper he bought and also the cinema.

 
Still, there’s HEAPS OF TIME despite doing all of that!!!!! 

Luckily i came across a band who are playing and practicing some songs!!! My 1st assumption that they must be a band playing live in pubs. Their songs are very nice and are consist of country music somewhat irish. I just sat nearby them enjoying their music, looking at how they practice and at the same time reading my book, haha.
Believe it or not, their songs accompanied me throughout most of the ferry ride, that i could sing the chorus part too. There were a few people who unintentionally found them like i did took photograph of them, stand and listen to their songs, haha.

Before they called it a day, i told them i love their songs!!! They told me they are a band from South Australia called “the timbers”. I was pretty surprised to hear that as i never heard it (i don’t hang out in pubs, lol, of course i don’t know). They played in hotels and pubs. Back then they were touring some parts of the country.
Best of all, the songs that i have been listening and enjoying throughout their practice were their new written songs!!! They said i just enjoy a free show, lol. They gave me a business card, here’s their website, you can check it out http://www.thetimbersband.com/timbersband/

I was really lucky to have them as my radio, otherwise i really have no idea how to kill the longest slowest time in the world!!! LOL

 
Night time, we entered Port Philip bay and we can see land & light on the both sides of the ship. But we ain’t anywhere close yet as Port Philip bay is huge. We only got to Port Melbourne at around 7-8pm, got the car, had a nice pizza, haha and then sent Jono to his friend’s house to get his car, then ALex and me were off on the highway back to Adelaide. It felt like the longest day of my life, lol.


We camped somewhere next to the highway on our back and then continue the ride back. On the way back, we found SA was so green!!!

All in all, i’m so glad that i managed to join the tasie trip!!! I really love tasie!!! Thanks to Alex and Jono for everything on this trip!!!!

Tasmania is really a hidden jewel of Australia to me especially the mother nature part, just as the famous John Chapman said:

JOHN CHAPMAN | With its wild variable weather and huge wilderness areas the western half of Tasmania is the realm of bushwalkers.


Here there is a raw untamed landscape of mountains and cliffs separated by scrubby plains and forests. Progress through this region is ruled by the ever changing weather and it’s not uncommon not to see much for days on end.


However, when the weather does change the effort of surviving here becomes worthwhile and the area changes into a photographer’s paradise. Through photographs we are able to give others a small glimpse of what is hidden in this large wilderness region.