We left Bridport on Wednesday, May 14, and returned to Old Mac's Farm in Launceston. Last time, it was very busy, but this time, we are camped near the powered area, and there are just fourteen vans in total here, and only two vans in the powered sites.
Google decided to take us on a merry cross-country trip to Launceston on both B and C roads just to remind us how much we enjoy driving on these Tassie roads.
We absolutely love Launceston and prefer it over Hobart. This time, we stayed for just two days, and one of those days included a tour of the Boags Brewery after catching an Uber into town. Unfortunately, the 200-year-old building where the tours conclude is currently being renovated. While we could sample some of their beers as part of the tour price, they didn’t serve food. I made up for this by purchasing two Wizard Smith’s Ale cartons to take home.
While the days here have been lovely, we've experienced very cold nights, with the car covered in heavy frost each morning. Thank goodness for our diesel heater.
The drive to Devonport was straightforward. After navigating some minor roads through Launceston and merging onto the Midland Highway, which then becomes the Bass Highway, we spent the last four days in Devonport at the Abel Tasman Caravan Park, just a three-minute drive from where we will board The Spirit for our return journey to Geelong.
After setting up in Devonport, we headed south to Latrobe for lunch at Belly's Bar and Grill on the main street, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. We then shopped at the local IGA before heading back to the van for a quiet afternoon.
We spent our days exploring Devonport while waiting to board the boat on Tuesday evening, May 20. The Saturday and Sunday before our sailing date were extremely cold, with daytime temperatures only reaching 12 degrees. Our phone app's wind chill factor indicated that it felt like 7.5 degrees. The app suggested that the temperature on Sunday, 18 May, was 0 degrees but felt like -5.4 degrees, something I can believe given the amount of frost around. We may have delayed our departure a tad too long!
On Sunday, May 18, we travelled south for 6 kilometres to Anvers to have lunch at their café. They are well-known for their chocolates, all made in-house, and they offer both self-guided and organised tours by appointment. After reading reviews, we opted for two different varieties of toasties; however, we both left feeling disappointed with our choices. These toasties did not compare to the ones that Ros makes.
On our second last day, we headed east towards Port Sorell and enjoyed a coffee at the Rocky Gardens Café. Rocky Gardens produces homemade jams, jellies, relishes, chutneys, and sauces from ingredients grown in Tasmania. We especially appreciated their raspberry jam and have several bottles to take home.
We are very pleased with our fuel efficiency over the past four months, given the types of roads we've travelled. Our Chevy and van together weigh nearly 10 tons. There are not many straight stretches; most roads consist of steep hills, and as we all know, what goes up must come down.
We were scheduled to depart from Tasmania at 6:45 PM on Tuesday, May 20. Unlike the excellent parking options in Geelong, there were not many available in Devonport before our departure. Therefore, we arrived near the boarding area at 2 PM and were surprised to find that we could queue just behind the entry gates until they opened at 4:15 PM.
We finally boarded in the dark, stashed our gear in our cabin, and made our way to the bar for beers and wine as the ship slipped its moorings in the Mersey River just after 7 PM. After enjoying dinner, we retired for the night. Thankfully, for Ros, the swells on our crossing to the mainland were even smaller than those we encountered in January.
Our van was located on deck 5, and we were the first to be called to exit once the ship was secured. Unfortunately, it was still dark outside at 6:30 AM, and Corio Quay Road into Geelong was closed off. The closure signs were located further on, near an industrial area where trucks were coming and going, which made for a tense drive until we finally reached the A10 Princess Highway into Geelong. After that, we missed our turn onto the Bellarine Highway and ended up navigating side streets until we found our way back to the highway towards Point Lonsdale and my brother and his partner’s place.
Sounds like it was a tad stressful for you at the end there Ross.
ReplyDeleteGlad it was a smooth crossing for Ros.
Hopefully you'll miss all the bad weather at home. They've certainly been copping it.
Keep travelling safe 🙂
Thank you! We probably won't arrive home for several weeks, so hopefully, all the bad weather has passed.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great time and you certainly saw a lot of Tassie! Yes, we didn't enjoy the drive out of Geelong in the dark. We'd blown a fuse in the car as well so the van's lights weren't operational to add to it. Hopefully things will have dried out a bit by the time you get home.
ReplyDeleteRoad closures in the dark with poor signage and trucks whizzing back and forth in the industrial area certainly get the heart racing. We've headed home after experiencing some extremely cold -3.5 degree nights.
ReplyDelete