Day 2

Day 2 total car distance - 14km

Thursday
September 8

Feeling tired, excited and a little nervous - just read the shipping weather report.

Sunny spring day with a bit of a nip in the air. A day in Melbourne. Day tickets for the trains/trams ($7 each) and leave Williamstown station for St Kilda for morning coffee. Why can’t Sydney have a ticketing system like Melbourne has had for years! Walk to St Kilda Pier, check out community vegie garden and then Tram back to CBD and make our way to Vic Markets for lunch. Back in arvo to collect car and over to Beacon Cove to line up for ferry.

Vegies - Community garden in St Kilda

St Kilda beach

Reconstruction of historical St Kilda Pier building

Around little Bourke Lane - Favourite part of Melbourne CBD.

Arrived around 4pm to wait for gates to open at 5pm. Stuffed ourselves full of our remaining fresh food as we were told we couldn’t take it. Apples, Kiwi fruit, avocado, tomato and an orange. Finally lined up at 5pm for security check and Pat was on her last apple – only to be told that it was OK to take the food on board as long as we didn’t take it into Tasmania. Long wait in queue as boarding didn’t begin till 6pm. Finally got on and parked on the most ridiculous tight parking spot. Struggled to get ourselves and gear out of car. Cabin level 8, 249 – inside without port hole. Comfy and basic.

Spirit of Tasmania loading through the front. We drove up this ramp

Calm on Port Phillip Bay

Spirit of Tasmania I departed around 7.20 pm at a speed of 25 knots for the 440 km journey. Took 2 ½ hours to get out of Port Phillip Bay. Bad weather predicted but apart from some rain squalls a pretty smooth crossing.

At night, at sea