The Boat There and Back Again

On the ‘Spirit of Tasmania I’ I was in an ocean recliner, a really comfortable seat in a room with probably 400 other seats. They faced the stern with large windows allowing us to look out.



Things no one tells you: waiting to drive on board takes a very long time. Bring a book. If you have passengers I would recommend that they go on board without you and taking everything to the cabin for you. You and the car will be waiting for what seems like forever. Oh, and getting there first doesn’t mean your car will go on first – they sort the cars by size – which due to balance makes sense.

When I arrived on board I ran to my seat, put my stuff down, applied sunscreen, got my camera and ran to the outside stern area to get a good seat. And when the ship started I enjoyed watching Melbourne disappear into the distance, and then we were treated to a magnificent sunset.



I took so many photos of the sunset - I can not decide which ones are the best.



Warning: In summer if you watch the sunset the kitchens might be closed by the time you get to the restaurant.

The food in the Leatherwood Restaurant was beautiful, small but nice. I did have to have all three courses to feel full. The other restaurant was a buffet and everything looked very oily and there was not much for vegetarians.

Chocolate Pudding

Level seven of the ship has two restaurants, a couple of bars and plenty of chairs to sit down and enjoy the ride.



I had trouble getting to sleep – someone nearby was reading and their light kept me awake. Going to Tassie I only get two hours sleep. I was sort of happy that I woke up really early. I found a comfortable position at the bow of the ship and watched the sky slowly turn blue and the mountains around Devonport appear with the entire deck to myself.



Going back to Melbourne on the ship I was quite exhausted so I sat in my recliner and watched Devonport disappear as I did Killer Sudokus. The recliner room was half empty and they seemed to have empty chairs between everyone which made it a lot more comfortable. I was glad that I booked my tickets very early as I was able to get a front row seat in both directions.

I was able to sleep for four hours going back, and woke up as we gained mobile phone services through Port Phillip Heads. It was beautiful to watch the lights of Sorrento, Blairgowrie, Mt Martha glide past, and record their interesting signals of the channel markers.

Tasmanian Coffee 3

For part one click here
For part two click here

Consumed at Queenstown Railway Station whilst waiting for the West Coat Wilderness Railway to depart.



At Tarraleah. Running out of petrol I found a cafe, they didn't have petrol but they did have toast and coffee, and could point me in the right direction. Tarraleah seemed to be a tourist town, a place for people to stay the night and get wed. A lot of blue houses.



At the cafe at the Tahune Air Walk. Easily the worst coffee of the trip - tasted like cough syrup. I will never buy coffee at tourist attractions. I will never buy coffee at tourist attractions. I will never...



A very nice cafe in Sheffeild. Skwiz Cafe and Gallery. They collect Tea Pots and have Folk Music on Fridays. They had a lovely note written on a newsletter, which silly me did not write down, it started like this "we believe in mix-matched chairs and tea pots"



Ross



Richmond



Queenstown

Tasmanian Coffee 2

For part one go here



In Port Phillip Bay from the Lavender Cafe on the Spirit of Tasmania 1. Woken up at 5:30 for a 6:30 exit, the tables are littered with hundreds of coffee cups.



Had a coffee and pudding at my motel's restaurant in Lindisfarne. People look at weirdly when you just order dessert and coffee. Don't tell them that I had a pizza at Sorell.



A hot chocolate from a chocolate shop in Launceston, once again I had to stir it up, but this one was beautiful.



Best coffee of the trip from This Cafe in Launceston.



Coffee in LaTrobe - I had given up trying to find The House of Anvers.



Another coffee in LaTrobe after another unsuccessful search. I had a good vegetable pie to eat with my coffee. There seems to be a lot of pie shops in the north-west of Tassie.



House of Anvers's Chocolates. I had trouble finding Anvers. It is in LaTrobe, but on the highway, not in the main street. This is a small hot chocolate and it filled up my cup twice. I had fun taste testing free chocolates. I'm told that Anvers's chocolates are dairy free and egg free.



A Devonshire Tea from Ida Bay. This was the furthest south that I could buy food and when I saw that they had a Devonshire Tea, I knew what I had to order. There was heaps of jam and cream - you had to have a degree in engineering to work out how to put it all on the scones. Beautiful!

Tasmanian Coffee

In Tassie I had 23 cups of coffee, hot chocolate and tea. Which sounds pretty bad when you write it like that, but in reality it works out to be two cups a day.

Huonville - in the south. This was dessert after a beautiful vegetarian pizza that had artichokes, asparagus and other vegies.

I didn't spend a lot of time in Hobart. But just enough time to drink a coffee.

Hot Chocolate in Grindelwald from a 'swiss' chocolate shop. It was interesting having to mix it up yourself, but unfortunately didn't taste as good as I was hoping.

Coffee at Dubbil Barril - in the first class carridge of the West Coast Wilderness Railway. They treat you very very well in first class, I could have drank coffee for the entire trip if I wanted to, but I restrained myself and only had one with lunch.

In Devonport. I disembarked from the Sprit of Tasmania 1 at 6:30ish, parked at the Tourist Information Centre and went straight to the only coffee shop that was open - a place called Banjo's. I later realised that Banjo's is a bakery chain that has stores in other Tassie towns.



Coffee at Bellerive. I had driven for hours tring to find an Indian restaurant, or any restaurant that had good veggie fare when I found this lovely French place which is a restaurant by night and a patisserie by day. The menu had duck and snail dishes. I had a wonderful minestrone soup followed by a coffee whist reading Theif of Time by Terry Pratchett. This coffee was by far one of the best on my trip.

The polite French waiter was also a Terry Pratchett connoisseur and hailled from Footscray in Melbourne.



A free coffee at Beauty Point whilst I waited for a documentary on the platypus to start at the World of the Platypus.



Coffee in Bass Straight - at the Leatherwood Restaurant on the Spirit of Tasmania 1, drank while on the way home, watching the sun set.

Wouldn't It Be Nice

Mitch was doing an informal survey wondering how many people knew what came after "wouldn't it be nice" in the Beach Boy’s song of the same name. Thanks to a very effective advertising campaign by an Australian company many people will now sing “Wouldn’t it be nice if the world was chocolate”. It would be interesting to do the survey on a large scale.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long
And wouldn’t it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong

“Wouln’t It be Nice” by The Beach Boys - Songwriters: Brian Wilson , Tony Asher and Mike Love

Dove Chocolate

Dove has a range of chocolates, where every chocolate was wrapped in an individual piece of foil with a quote…

Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.

Don’t you look good naked. I’m talking about the chocolate.

Beauty is in the eye of the choc-holder.

Lead me not into temptation. I can find my own way there.

Not Quite Coffee

Its not Terry's, its mine! Possibly the best chocolate in the world.

The unobtainable coffee. The line just did not go down.

A groovy t-shirt - Caffeine

Birthday Cake

Groovy cup cakes in a shop window.

Coffee Update

In Strathmore before rehersals for Katerina

In Strathmore again - the barrista remembered that I like taking photos of coffees and made this one for me.

From "Caffeine" in Swanston Street. I had a few during rehearsals for Titus, but did not get a photo. This one was bought for consumption before helping out with a sound recording session for a friend's assignment. Be careful - they like putting sugar in drinks even when you dont want any...




Erin's favourite coffee place is The Tin Pot Cafe on St George's Road in Fitzroy. The coffee was good! And the company better!

Dad's house - I always feel weird drinking tea and coffee from football cups... I wonder if he has a stein...

Hot Chocolate at a cake shop in Chadstone

From the place that I refer to as "The Italian Place at Melbourne Central". This was their new cup. Visited once or twice during Titus Andronicus...

This was their old take-away cup. The floor is the Union Arts Office.

New take away cups at work.

Gran's house - photos are never in focus at Gran's house...