Tasmania 2010

We awoke to news that the weather was unlikely to improve and that it was forecast that it would be raining for most of the day.
We left our motel around 8.00am and drive down to Carrum Downs to pick up our trailer.
By 8.30am we were on our way home. I decided I wouldn't pay the fee to use the CityLink freeway and would follow the Nuvi's instructions to avoid the toll roads. In hindsight this was probably not a good move as we didn't get onto the Calder Highway proper until around 10.00am.
We stopped at the Calder Outbound BP for breakfast before continuing on to Bendigo where we fuelled up.
Next stop was Sea Lake where we bought some sandwiches for lunch and fuelled up again.
Fortunately the weather forecast wasn't as accurate as the day before as the inclement weather had cleared and for most of the drive home we had no rain.
Next stop was Mildura where we did our final refuel for the last stage of the drive home.
We arrived in Berri around 6.15pm with the realisation that our holidays were now officially over!

The weather forecast on Thursday night was not promising and when we woke up this morning, it was pouring rain and this rain continued all day.
We were considering visiting Puffing Billy, but with the inclement weather decided this was not going to happen. We had had enough retail therapy and decided we would only go out for a pub meal and a little play on the Pokies.
Not knowing where to go, we took pot luck and decided on the Dandenong RSL Club. We were very impressed with the club. We played the Pokies, I lost my $5, whilst the wife won a $140 jackport. We then had some lunch, I ordered Fish & Chips and got two huge pieces of fish, whilst the wife ordered Siagon Prawns, which happened to be prawns cooked in noodles. The servings were both large and we both struggled to finish our meals. As we said - very impressive.
To top it off, the wife had another quick play on the Pokies and won a further $80.
We then went down to where our camper was getting the new kitchen fitted and paid the account so that we could pick up the canmper first thing tomorrow for our drive home and the end of our holidays.

The trip back on the Spirit of Tasmania was not as smooth as the trip to Tasmania. Whilst we slept on and off, when we got up around 5.30am we both felt as if we had been on the grog the night before as we both had headaches!
We finally got the call that we could return to our vehicles and disembark. The $64 million question was "Would the Pajero start?". With great trepidation I turned the key and the motor turned over and started, to say we were relived would be a little understatement.
We drove off the ship and collected our gas bottle before heading down to Carrum Downs where we would leave the Camper Trailer for two days to have a new stainless steel kitchen fitted in place of the original timber kitchen which had seen better days.
We unhitched the camper and then proceeded to find an Auto Electrician to check the starter motor. We went to one Auto Electrician and the sign on his door said "Back soon". We waited 10 minutes or so before deciding that we both had a different definition of "soon".
About 250 metres down the round was another Auto Electrician, who was there, and we asked if he could check the starter motor and effect any necessary repairs. When he asked that I drive the Pajero into his workshop, the Pajero wouldn't start again! Were we glad that this happened were it did and not anywhere else we had stopped and started prior to getting to the Auto Electrician.
This now meant we had to find something to do for the day whilst the Pajero was being repaired.
We decided to catch a bus to Frankston and visit the shops. The bus that we caught does a loop from Franskston to Melbourne Airport. I recalled reading an article in the Sun-Herald the day we left for Tasmania saying that a one way trip would take in excess of 4 hours and that there were in excess of 200 stops along the way. Fortunately for us, we would only be passing a dozen or so stops before we reached Frankston Station and the shopping centre.
Whilst at the shopping centre we found out that a young girl had committed suicide by jumping off of the third story roof top car park around the time that we entered the shopping centre, as we wondered why an area had been cordoned off near the entrance we used to enter the shopping centre. Now we knew why.
By 2.30pm we had enough retail therapy and hopped back onto the bus and checked in with the Auto Electrician as to when our Pajero would be ready. We couldn't have time our arrival any better as five minutes later and $330 poorer we were on our way.
We decided to book into our accommodation as we where looking forward to being somewhere quiet and relaxing.

Today would be our last day in Tasmania. As the drive to Devenport was the shortest day drive of our holidays we tried to leave later than usual, but it seems our body clock decided we must be ready and on the road by 8.30am.
The drive to Devenport was rather uneventful and we arrived in Devenport around 10.30am, well in time for our 7.30pm departure that night. We moved around a few spots in East Launceston and read magazines, went for walks or surfed the internet using my iPad to while away the time.
Around 4.00pm we arrived at the dock ready to drive the Pajero on to the Spirit of Tasmania. We knew the gates wouldn't open until 5.00pm, but there were anumber of other vehicles already in the que. Finally the gates openned and we proceeded to be processed. It was at this time that the starter motor on the Pajero decided to play up and whilst we were clearing the quarintine station, the Pajero decided it didn't want to start. Fortunately we were towed  to the boarding area and were advised that we would be towed on last if the RACT could not get the Pajero started. When the RACT arrived, a tap on the starter motor enabled it to be started and driven onto the ship.
We were at least assured of getting to Melbourne and once there, not knowing whether the Pajero would start or not!

After experiencing our best nights sleep for the holiday, we departed St Helens around 9.00am for Launceston.
Our first stop was St Columbia Falls. The falls are visible as a "drive by" without having to take the walk to the base of the falls if that is not your inclanation.
The road towards the falls got narrower and narrower the closer we got to the falls. Fortunately there was a turning bay at the end of the road to enable vehicles to turn around. We passed the "Pub in a Paddock" but as it was barely 10.00am decided it wasn't the time to stop for a drink.
Back on the road and the hills seems to becomming higher and longer with each ascent and descent. We joked that there are only two types of roads in Tasmania - uphill roads and downhill roads! We wondered and pondered as to how and why the road was constructed where it was and the effort that would have gone into constructing the road. Being the driver, my eyes were on the road ahead, however my passengers were sometimes on tenterhooks with the amazing drops not more than a metre or so off of the bitumen.
Having driven for what seemed hours we came to a town by the name of Derby and had another toilet break. We learnt that the population of Derby would increase 10 fold in the following week when the River Derby would be held.
We left Derby and continued driving uphill and downhill until be reach Scottsdale. We located a pharmacy in the main street and stocked up on motion sickness tablets. These would come in handy not juts for the remainder of the drive to Launceston, but also for on the Spirit of Tasmania.
On the way out of Scottsdale we climbed what we thought was the highest hill and stopped at the lookout. Unfortunately our view was not that great due to the inclement weather, but we were still impressed none the less.
The road finally stopped being uphill and downhill and we were able to drive at more than 40-50kph.
We arrived at Launceston around 1.00pm and booked into our accommodation at Hapsden.
Just as we had booked in it started to rain again and continued raining well into the night.