Feb 15: Crossing the Bass Strait to Tasmania

The Bass Strait.  First identified as a route from the west to Sydney by Flinders (we met him before) and Bass in 1798  (the blokes had set off in a whaleboat from Sydney…not very close to here), the Bass Strait can have some of the roughest waters in any ocean. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_Strait

For our crossing today we went thru strict agricultural inspection on the dock and then drove the motorhome up onto the 5^th deck of the ship, actually the main deck, not down in the hold like most ferries where you enter through the open bow or stern.  There were 4 levels of vehicles beneath us!

Built in 1998 in Finland, the Spirit of Tasmania I, along with her sister ship the Spirit of Tasmania II, worked until 2002 running between Greece and Italy, In 2002 they were purchased and sailed down under where they have worked for the last 13 years crossing the Bass.

http://www.spiritoftasmania.com.au

These are ships.  Almost 700 feet long, 80 feet wide, 10 stories high, and 29,500 tons, they sail the 232 nautical miles (266 miles) between Melbourne and Devonport, Tasmania in about 9-10 hours at a speed of 27 knots (31 mph).  They carry up to 1400 passengers and 500 vehicles.  If you know much about ships, you will know that this is a lot of ship moving quite fast.

For our trip today (not to jinx ourselves for our return crossing next Sunday), we found very calm seas all the way across.  No roll and little pitch and mostly flat seas, the crossing was smooth.

After our arrival in Devonport we drove about 60 miles to our campground just outside Cradle Mountain National Park, a UNESCO Heritage Park.  We picked up our “late arrival’ envelope and drove to our campsite, B22, to find someone there. L They had paid for an extra night so we drove back to the reception and called the staff on the emergency phone. Tanya arrived in 5 minutes and helped us, apologized for the error…we were to be in B25, and grabbed a liter of local brew (Kentish Ale from Seven Sheds Brewery in Sheffield) and told us to enjoy!  Now that is how to make up or an error!

http://www.sevensheds.com/cellar-door/kentish-ale

The campground apparently used to be part of the park system, and was very much unlike any private caravan park we had stayed in.  We felt we were in a national park campground anywhere.

Tomorrow to Duck Lake and the iconic view of Cradle Mountain…weather permitting the view.