The Spirit of Tasmania

Our destination from Strahan was to get to Upper Natone where we had booked a place for the night called "Natone Lodge." We were planning to get there in time to unload, eat dinner, and then go straight to Devonport to watch the ship come in that travels between Melbourne, Victoria (mainland Austrailia) and Tasmania. This ship, the Spirit of Tasmania, is one of the main passages for folks and vehicles traveling back and forth across the Bass Strait.

 Natone Lodge was not at all what we expected. This was one of our least expensive stays during the entire trip and it was the most luxurious
accommodations of them all. There was a carport,

 

a living room, 

a kitchen with hot plates, toaster ovens, refrigerator, and more,

and two bedrooms and laundry. And we didn't have to share it with anyone! The lady that owned this place used to run it with her late husband who would give fly-fishing lessons to the guests. She was actually looking to sell it and I believe Linden thought about buying it for a little bit! It was way out in the middle of no-where and in a very beautiful place. We wish we could've stayed there more than one night!

Our delicious hot meal of pasta before heading out to see the Spirit of Tasmania come in. 

I believe that it was on this drive into Devonport that we needed gas in a somewhat serious fashion. All of the little towns we went thru were so small that they had one stop sign at best. The one gas station we found was closed, but it looked as though there was a house attached to the back. We were hoping that if we nosed around enough, the people would come out and let us get gas. That didn't happen, even though we saw someone peeking out a curtain at us! Somehow we got to some gas, but it was slightly pushing the needle on empty stage.

Linden took all of these pictures. The ferry wasn't on time so Jul and I had left to go get some pastries. (We were both suckers for any pastry shop - everything was soooo delicious!)

When planning our trip to Tasmania, I looked into booking us on the Spirit of Tasmania. We thought it would be a once in a lifetime experience.

After some research, I found out that the Bass Strait is rarely a calm sea. And the sailing time was a minimum of 8 hours. The cost was also more expensive than flying.

We thought about crossing at night so that we wouldn't lose any sight-seeing time, however that was even more expensive. So considering that Linden is prone to sea sickness, and the costs, we chose to fly instead. But watching the ship come in was high on Linden's list of things to do in Tassie.

There were lots of people, cars, and trucks on this ship.

The drawbridge looking thing on the left was lowered down to the bottom of the ship and that is where all the vehicles were driven off. (Hopefully I have more pictures of that type of experience when I get to New Zealand.) Watching the dock workers haul the huge, and they were huge, ropes to tie up the ship was interesting.

I think there were 3-4 guys for each rope.

I think this is the best photo showing the size of the ropes.

On the way back to Natone Lodge for the night, we stopped to look at this lighthouse.

I think we tried to get closer to it the next day, but it was either closed off or fee access only.

There was a gorgeous sunset that night. I just wish we had been able to get a better picture. 

The following day, we allowed ourselves plenty of time to drive back to Launceston for our evening flight into Melbourne.

On driving out of Natone, Linden once again found a farm where he had to check out their hay.

We stopped again in Devonport for lunch. It was a beautiful day!

This time we were on the other side of the canal (?) of the Spirit of Tasmania dock. You can see the drawbridge thingy in the background on the left. I don't think we got to see the ferry anymore, but we saw other boats/ships (I think one was maybe a grain barge?) come in or go out. 

Jul decided to collect some rocks to go with her seashell collection (and maybe even some sand). If you look in her remodeled upstairs bathroom, you will get to see these exact rocks!

Somewhere along the drive to Launceston we found this chocolate shop and factory. We got to sample some wares and of course bought some, too!

I don't think they were making anything that day, but we got to watch people packaging chocolates.

And of course the last photos of Tasmania are of passing slow moving vehicles.

This photo concludes our trip around Tasmania. We flew out of Launceston that evening and got into Melbourne about 8 or 9pm. The next post will tell the tales of that late night adventure!