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Published: March 16th 2010
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Those all important couple of inches
Our caravan just sneaks under the ramp on the ferry! Day 310 - Devonport, Tasmania to Box Hill, Victoria
We got our wish last night, the road was quiet and we did get a decent nights sleep. Darryl watched the ferry terminal’s goings on till quite late as we could see it all from where we’re parked and this morning we watched as the ferry arrived from Melbourne. He’s already satisfied his ‘we must be early, we can’t be late’ strategy by parking within spitting distance so he’s got a birds eye view on the queue and therefore isn’t in a rush for us to join it until he can see the incoming traffic has been unloaded! He’s a smart cookie.
When we do finally drive round and head through the gates, we’re scrutinised in pretty much the same way as we were when we boarded in Melbourne. Security guards ask to check the engine bay of the car initially. We asked the reason for this and the lady pulls an old rag from the battery sensor area of our car, (a rag we didn’t know was in there and the security guards didn’t find in Melbourne) and tells us it’s to avoid fire risks. She then checked the
back of the car then the caravan. We hand over our loose gas bottle and she gives us a ticket to collect it after the crossing.
Then it was just a question of waiting patiently until we boarded and yet again it seemed we were in one of the last queues to be motioned forward. Again we were boarding on level G5 but this time it was via the large flyover ramps they use. I watched in horror as we were called forward to park slightly underneath a mezzanine level. When we booked our tickets we’d given the dimensions of the vehicles as being 2.1 meters high or under, which we are, but when we’re now faced with driving under something which is exactly 2.3 meters high it was a bit nerve racking to say the least. Dar manoeuvres carefully towards the front of the ferry and we then got out to check the clearance, gosh its close!
There’s no time to waste, we’ve already got our bags packed and we charge full speed ahead up on to Deck 10 in the hope we’ll find a seating area with a power point. We do and for the next
ten hours I sit rooted to the spot catching up on the blog. In the background we have a husband and wife duo who sing their hearts out throughout the day to keep us entertained. There is also the option to have your face painted, which I somehow resist, and at one stage there’s an announcement to say we’re being followed by a pod of 50 dolphins. Cool!
Despite the captains best efforts, the ferry was late docking tonight then there was a hold up on retrieving our gas container plus we managed to hit some traffic relating to road works in the city so our estimated arrival time back in Box Hill of 7.30pm was well out the window.
We made a tiny diversion to Dan Murphys for some cheap beer then rocked up at the Box Hill resort to find Anna, Grant, the girls, Jordan and Swedish girlfriend Therese all there already.
Grant was on cooking duty so we’re treated to a magnificent BBQ feast which we’re very grateful for. They make us feel so welcome here and this time we’ve asked to sleep in the house so we don’t have to drag the caravan
onto the drive late at night, it scrapes the pavement and makes a right racket when we do it!
Anna has only just got home from the Sydney trade fair so is catching up on stuff herself. Grant has spent most of the weekend at the beach house but has somehow managed to come home with an errant pillow. The pillow is now subject to quarantine regulations and is in the hallway under further investigation can be started!! Great to see everything is normal!
Therese has only been back in the country for about a week so she’s still finding her feet having made the decision to move here from Sweden to be with Jordan. We haven’t spent much time with her but hopefully before we return to the UK we’ll get to know her a bit better.
And then there’s the girls, the gorgeous beautiful girls. It’s great to see Charlotte and Amy again. They’ve had a great weekend playing with friends and with their cousin Luke at the beach house. They even managed a game of Rummikub this morning which was great to hear.
We catch up on as much news as we can
then fall into bed until the morning. We’re supposed to be leaving tomorrow and heading for Mansfield but one more day here would be lovely so we hope that Grant & Anna don’t notice we haven’t left on time!
Dar and Sar
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