Tasmania The Explorer's Trip
Between 17 September and 17 October 1999, members of the club journeyed to our island state, Tasmania. This is part one of a multi part report of our exploits
As the members of our party left their respective homes on different days to meet up in Melbourne for the sea journey south, departure day from Melbourne on 20 September is deemed to be Day 1
Tasmania
D-Minus to Day 1
To Melbourne and Across the Strait
17 - 20 September 1999
The Crew
Ralph & Marilyn - L Series Wagon
Danny & Beth L-Series Turbo Wagon
Pat & Arnold - Forester
Graham & Peggie - Liberty Wagon
Big John - Holden Rodeo "Pievan"
Matthew & Vanessa - MY Wagon
Detailed map of Tasmania (1080 x 1080 - 450kb) (It's big so you can read it !)
Stage One - Monday 13th September to Monday 20th
The trip to Tasmania consisted of the following intrepid explorers:- Ralph & Marilyn C in an "L" Series, Arnold & Pat S in a Forester, Danny & Beth W in an "L" Series, Matthew & Vanessa A in an MY, John McK in the "pievan" Rodeo and Graham & Peg F in a Liberty wagon.
Our trip across the Bass Strait had been booked back in February and all fares fully paid in August. OK everything is set to go, the only thing left to finalise were the details of where we would venture in Tasmania.
Wrong! On Monday 13th September Beth rang from Canberra to say they had received a call from Melbourne with the news that the "Spirit of Tasmania", our transport across the strait, was broken down and would be out of service until further notice. Panic! - You have never seen anything like the stress levels that were felt over the next twelve hours as we tried to reorganise our trip.
After many phone calls and lots of cups of coffee it was finally organised that
we could be transported across on a Catamaran that had been urgently
brought into service to help cover the
disruption too so many holiday arrangements. This service was for people only - no room for cars. We then arranged to
transport our cars across by Brambles at an extra cost of $320 per car. The biggest downside to all these arrangements
was that we had to be on the dock on Monday at 6am to board the Catamaran, but Brambles did not open until 6am to accept
our cars, how could we be in two places at once. A very nice gentleman at Brambles, by the name of "John", must have
realised by my tone over the phone that I was within seconds of a mental breakdown. He kindly offered to come in at
5.30am to allow us this extra time needed. Wow ... there really are still some great people in this world ... bottle of
port to John as a big thank you.
Ralph, the happy author
With all the arrangements sorted out our trip was still on. Changes had to be made to the departure time, as our original plan was to be in Melbourne on Monday afternoon. This meant a loss of nearly a day from travel arrangements.
Graham & Peg had arranged to meet us at Station Pier. Danny & Beth would also be meeting us at the Pier at 5.30am on Monday. Arnold & Pat, John & Matthew all managed to rearrange their schedules to allow them to leave Brisbane together on Friday at lunchtime. This left Ralph & Marilyn. We could not leave any earlier that Saturday so at 5.30am we were off on our tour to meet up with the crew in Melbourne.
Warwick was our first stop for morning tea, we made good time with a very uneventful trip over Cunningham's Gap and the "Golden Arches" a welcome stop. From Warwick to Goondiwindi was very pleasant travelling in the coolness of the spring morning. Ralph has been travelling the highways of eastern Australia now for over 30 years and Boggabilla Roadhouse was always one of "the" stopping places on the road. We pulled in for a refuel and a bit of nostalgia with Ralph taking photos in case the roadhouse gets "modernised" soon.
Travelling via the Newell Highway to Narrabri for lunch we noticed lots of changes in the farming areas with a big switch to cotton. The weather was changing to cold and windy, although it was still sunny. The traffic was light on the highway so we had a lonely drive down through the Pilliga scrub to Coonabarabran and onto Dubbo for our next fuel stop, and an ice cream.
At the rate we were travelling we felt an overnight stay in Forbes was the agenda and as we would not be arriving there until around 6.30pm we opted for a motel. Lucky we did as the weather dropped to minus two degrees overnight and our windscreen was icy next morning. Prior to leaving Forbes we decided to give Arnold a ring on the mobile to find out where they were. We were amazed to find that they were only an hour down the road at West Wyalong, camping in their tents. We had no tent to pack so departed Forbes at 7.30am and arrived at their campsite just as they were finishing their packing. This allowed us to convoy to Melbourne together.
Just prior to arriving at the NSW-VIC border we made a short stop to dispose of the fruit and vegetables in the cars (not allowed to transport into VIC so it was a compulsory morning tea). "Big" John had continued on, as he did not have any items requiring disposal in his kit. John received a phone call from Peg & Graham to say that they would meet us at Shepparton. This call was a little distorted due to mobile reception in the area so the exact meeting place was fuzzy. We continued on our trip hoping that another call would come through with more detail or we would, with a lot of luck, meet up with them on the road. As luck would have it this is exactly what happened. Peg & Graham thought they must have -missed us in Shepparton so drove about ten kilometres out of town: They were in the process of doing a "U" turn when we caught up. Another problem solved.
The drive down through the southern part of NSW was interesting as we noted the major changes in the fifteen years since my last "regular" run through this area. The grazing has mostly gone and in its place were hectares of Canola farms. This plant is used in the making of margarine, cooking oils etc. What a pretty sight it was, the green of the pastures against vast fields of the beautiful yellow flowering plant on a glorious sunny day.
The other change we noted was the big improvement in the roads of the area. Much wider then before and in use now by large road trains.
We arrived at about 5pm at the Caravan Park in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg. After settling in it was decided that, as we had to be up at 4am the next morning, we would do a recce to the wharves to find the quickest way and exactly where we would have to go to deliver the cars etc. Considering our Melbourne Referdex was 20 years old, we did well.
We managed to stay on time and departed from the cabins at 4.20am to drive to Station Pier to drop the ladies and luggage at the Catamaran area. Danny and Beth arrived and it was over to Brambles with the cars praying that John was there to complete the paperwork and allow the us time to catch cabs back to Station Pier before the Catamaran sailed. All worked well. Stresses disappeared once these tasks were completed.
If Bourke & Wills had this much fun leaving Melbourne it is a wonder they made it to the border.
One boat for the cars ........Waiting for the boys ........ And one boat for us !
The excitement was now growing as we waited at Station Pier for the call to "Board". The Catamaran, on loan from its regular run between Wellington and Picton in New Zealand, had a carrying capacity of 300 people and 60 cars and a 40-knot cruising speed. This ensured us of a quick trip across the strait. The bonus to all our troubles was that we would go across the strait in daylight and come back in the dark.
"All aboard !"
The Catamaran pulled out of Station Pier about 7arn and at a casual pace steamed toward the Heads of Port Phillip Bay, approx one a half hours to clear the heads and enter Bass Strait. The crossing was fairly calm (much to Matthews disgust) with a gentle swell. A stiff breeze was blowing on the decks necessitating a jacket but the view and the opportunity of spotting dolphins, porpoises and other sea creatures made it worthwhile. Those who braved the weather managed to spot all of the above.
We arrived in Devonport, on the banks of the Mersey River, at around 3.30prn and our Tassie tour was now beginning. Matthew was off to meet up with Vanessa, as she was to fly into Devonport at around 3pm. This was a bonus for them as Vanessa's plans meant that she should have been spending her first night in Tasmania on her own, as we had not expected to arrive until 8.30am Tuesday.
Thanks to Pat spending quite a bit of time ringing around and organising our first night in Tassie, we were off to settle into the Elimatta Hotel situated on the banks of the river. After a walk around Devonport and a group discussion it was decided to have our first Tassie meal in an "Irish" pub. Molly Malone's put on a great meal and a very relaxing time was had by all.
Great Steak and Kidney Pie !
Breakfast on Tuesday morning was an individual, do your own thing, arrangement so we strolled up town and enjoyed a sidewalk breakfast in the lovely atmosphere of this pretty river port. Departure time from Devonport was on the 10am bus to Burnie to collect our vehicles.
Ralph Condon SC 372
Next Report - 21-26 September - Devonport to Strahan
