Quick Stop in Melbourne and crossing the Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania

Our stop in Melbourne was very brief, as we’ve now finished a complete circumnavigation of Australia, and are really trying to spend our time in places where we haven’t been before.

Our Melbourne to-do list consisted of: an Apple Store appointment to drop off my Apple Watch for repair/replacement (it had developed a “bubble” in the screen while still under warranty);

…a visit to a Jeep specialist to diagnose a mysterious noise the Jeep was making while cold (which he didn’t solve, but turned out to be an issue with our brake caliper which is currently being fixed as I write this in Tasmania)…

…a visit to Lush to pick up some environmentally-friendly toiletries (namely a shampoo bar, which my sister(s) had educated me about, and which I was looking forward to trying as it meant I’d have more room in my toiletries kit vs carrying a big shampoo bottle)…

…lunch with my darling at yet another Brewery (Bad Shepherd)…

…and picking up a shipment from a friend, containing my daypack/hydration pack that I’d sent home from Cape York, when it was too hot to even imagine doing a long enough hike to require more than a water bottle of hydration, for months ahead (in fact long walks in the North of Australia are actively discouraged/closed at times due to the very dangerous and very real possibility of dying from dehydration, heat exhaustion, and/or exposure). However, now heading to Tassie, we knew we’d be embarking on some serious hikes and day walks and I was clearly thrilled to get it back!

Have we mentioned the Parcel Collect service before? It’s this very cool, FREE service Australia Post offers. You sign up on their website, and receive a unique number called your Parcel Collect number. You can then send parcels and letters to any Australia Post location and they’ll be held for you as long as you include your unique number on whatever’s been sent. Our experience with individual post offices vary – it seems like some have more experience or patience with the service than others – our items have been held for weeks at some locations, held for only five days before being returned to sender in others, and lost at others (but forwarded for free to any other post office in Australia). So a bit of a crapshoot, I suppose – but I don’t know what we would have done otherwise, so we’re still big fans.

Errands run, bellies full of delicious Melbourne food and coffee, and heads a little sore from a bit too much wine, it was off early in the morning to catch the Spirit of Tasmania and travel 429km across the Bass Strait.

Nick and I were VERY excited, both to experience the Spirit of Tasmania ferry, which we’d read had decent services and meals, and a movie theatre, and we’d managed to score a private cabin for only $50 more each way!

Speaking of the cost – our return journey, with our extra-height vehicle and private cabin, cost $1,023 AUD. This includes the transport of us, the transport of the Jeep, the cabin, free date changes (only the fare difference if applicable), and a $458 federal government rebate (meaning the cost would be $1,481 without the rebate). The purpose of the rebate seems to be to help Australians bring their personal vehicles back and forth across to Tassie to drive tourism and to reduce the number of vehicles that permanently stay on Tasmania. If you’re really curious, you can learn more about the fares at the Spirit of Tasmania website, and more about the federal rebate at the Dept of Infrastructure site. 

Whilst the fare initially gave us sticker shock, it does end up being very much worth it in the end, as you really need a vehicle to get around Tasmania (so if you flew for cheaper, you’d end up paying for a hire car and accomodation anyway). There is heaps of free and low cost camping around Tassie as well, making it an even more attractive prospect if you can bring camping gear. And finally, if you don’t have a penthouse tent on top of your vehicle and require the vehicle transport floor with extra height, the ferry would be even cheaper!

We had an amazingly positive experience with the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone. They have a very simple and clear online booking system, and when we couldn’t find availability for the dates we wanted and called in for help, their telephone booking agent was happy to unlock a spot for us on the exact dates we wanted, for no extra fee.

AND (I know, is this an advertisement for Spirit of Tasmania or what?), when we decided to stay in Tas an extra week, we were able to change our booking ourselves, online, with zero hassle, and we even got a $100 refund because the fare on that day was cheaper than our original fare ?‍♀️

While on the ferry, for 8 to 10 hours depending on the winds and waves on the day, you can even get a decent coffee for a decent price ($3.50 for a latte, no gouging their captive audience), and for lunch there’s a pretty decent buffet and salad bar for $25 per person.

It ended up being a very good thing that we opted to get the cabin too because I got pretty queasy, both on the ride over, and our return journey. Lying down in a quiet dark room, closing my eyes, and letting the ship rock me to sleep for a few hours was awesome.

Shortly before our arrival in Tas, we popped up to the Visitor Information desk on the ferry (yep, they have one of those too), to check on whether our planned route was feasible given the massive bushfires they were fighting in Tasmania in January. Unfortunately, many roads in the centre and west of Tas were closed due to the dangerous raging bushfires, and we needed to adjust our route. Originally, we had hoped to cover the wilder and more remote west coast first, but the visitor centre advised us not to go that way. You’ll see in a later post, we ended up taking it a bit too slowly on the east and south coasts, and missing the west coast entirely in fact, even after the fires were out. We’re looking forward to exploring the west with the Sydney Jeep Club on a club trip soon!