Having a coffee in the ship's dining lounge area and watching people be sick into barf bags. Pulled 50 bucks out of a pokies machine and ate roast beef, salads, and some massive oysters.
I'm not getting why all the sick people. There's only mild turbulence and rolling. You'd get more at an amusement park.
(That was 5 minutes ago)
In the meantime an infant being carried by her mother has projectile vomited on my left shoe. Not a direct hit but splatter. Wasn't her fault but still grossssss! :oeudC:
Quote from: "Dinky Dianna"
Having a coffee in the ship's dining lounge area and watching people be sick into barf bags. Pulled 50 bucks out of a pokies machine and ate roast beef, salads, and some massive oysters.
I'm not getting why all the sick people. There's only mild turbulence and rolling. You'd get more at an amusement park.
(That was 5 minutes ago)
In the meantime an infant being carried by her mother has projectile vomited on my left shoe. Not a direct hit but splatter. Wasn't her fault but still grossssss! :oeudC:
I like being on boats too. I am hardly a marine expert, but is sure enjoy being on boats.
Enjoy your rides and trip!!!
Best boat ride I ever had - England to the Isle of Guernsey (50% of my heritage is from there - 25% French section, 25% English section - they were not supposed to intermix in those days but my grandparents were rule breakers ac_biggrin )
Not a real big boat .. We had a room, but I wanted to be on deck - it got really rough, tips of waves crashing against the skipper's cabin ... people barfing over the rail ... I went as far ahead as i could to feel the spray ... up up up ... pause .. down down down .. boat shuddered at bottom of each big wave ... loved it, will never forget it
Far rougher and more exiting than my time as "hostess (Julie McCoy role) " on the Prince George on the Alaska run later in life .. also a smaller cruising boat
The original ride from Australia was good ... took forever but as a kid I loved it

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Quote from: "cc"
The original ride from Australia was good ... took forever but as a kid I loved it
6 weeks that destroyed forever any desire I would have to go on a cruise ship.
Thank you, noooo.
Quote from: "Dinky Dianna"
Having a coffee in the ship's dining lounge area and watching people be sick into barf bags. Pulled 50 bucks out of a pokies machine and ate roast beef, salads, and some massive oysters.
I'm not getting why all the sick people. There's only mild turbulence and rolling. You'd get more at an amusement park.
(That was 5 minutes ago)
In the meantime an infant being carried by her mother has projectile vomited on my left shoe. Not a direct hit but splatter. Wasn't her fault but still grossssss! :oeudC:
How long does it take to take a ferry from Victoria to Tasmania?
Does it hold automobiles too?
About 9.5 hours, Fash.
1400 passengers
750 berths
1000 cars
Or 30 minutes by plane. 230 passengers. 230 seats. No cars. Avis and Hertz operate from Hobart and Launceston.
Only poor people use the ferry.
Pfffftttt
A holiday is as much about the journey as it is about the destinations and you can't bring camping gear easily on a plane unless you're backpacking and don't have children with you.
We're in Launceston at the moment getting provisions. Very hilly.

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Nice casino, though.
Camping is for poor people.
Camping is for nature people.
Really?
I look forward to you posting some nature pictures then. Like mine.
I can appreciate nature just as well without freezing my ass off, getting soaked and sleeping on the ground or on an air mattress.
You must not camp very often.
I do not camp at all.
It is highly unlikely that you will if and when you reach 67.
Our camping days are well and truly behind us.
Quote from: "Bricktop"
I do not camp at all.
It is highly unlikely that you will if and when you reach 67.
Our camping days are well and truly behind us.
We have a heated, air conditioned rv..
It's not exactly roughing it.
Not at all.
However, I'd be confident in assuming Freud and brood are crammed in a plastic tent, huddled in sleeping bags against the Tasmanian cold, after abandoning sitting around the campfire setting marshmallows on fire due to the predictable Tasmanian rain.
Meanwhile, Bricktop and family will be finishing a delightful meal in a hotel restaurant before retiring to comfortable beds, ready to face the next day of wilderness exploration.
So we zip lined from various tree tops this afternoon.

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Our 6 year old looked a little green at the start but after some practice runs attached to my harness at the training area, she was all in and loving it 50 metres above the ground.

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I would post video taken of it but they all fully show her face and that's something we consider a no-no online.
Though we did do a massive trail walk earlier and came across an equally big fallen tree which they cut out so hikers could pass and that completely floored her. She's tall for her age and we have similar sized trees all around but she's never been able to walk between a cross cut.

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Quote from: "Bricktop"
Not at all.
However, I'd be confident in assuming Freud and brood are crammed in a plastic tent, huddled in sleeping bags against the Tasmanian cold, after abandoning sitting around the campfire setting marshmallows on fire due to the predictable Tasmanian rain.
Meanwhile, Bricktop and family will be finishing a delightful meal in a hotel restaurant before retiring to comfortable beds, ready to face the next day of wilderness exploration.
Your confidence is a little bizarre. It was 17c today and super sunny. The little one refused to wear a jumper all through the experience and we're chilling at a hotel in Launceston for the night then departing towards the Southwest for a few days of wholesome goodness with the esky fully loaded.
Nice pics. Weather looks good.
It has been so far, except the last two hours into Devonport on the ship last night.
There is actually one guy on the radio here who spent nearly ten minutes reciting the TV guide at 12:45 in the arvo.
https://picosong.com/w2cTE
Quote from: "Bricktop"
Not at all.
However, I'd be confident in assuming Freud and brood are crammed in a plastic tent, huddled in sleeping bags against the Tasmanian cold, after abandoning sitting around the campfire setting marshmallows on fire due to the predictable Tasmanian rain.
Meanwhile, Bricktop and family will be finishing a delightful meal in a hotel restaurant before retiring to comfortable beds, ready to face the next day of wilderness exploration.
This is why we only like camping in our rv..
It gets cold at night in the mountains West of here even in the middle of summer.
Tasmania can be fickle, and the temperature can vary wildly from place to place. It has been known to snow in December.
Quote from: "Bricktop"
Tasmania can be fickle, and the temperature can vary wildly from place to place. It has been known to snow in December.
It's been known to snow in December here too.
:laugh:
Hah. It's SUPPOSED to snow in December there!! :P
We stopped in Tullah for lunch this arvo near a bunch of small locomotive junk and a length of very rusty track. Apparently the population of 160 used the track to get in and out up until they put a road through. Most of the track is now submerged under a dam as part of the hydroelectric system which powers Tasmania.

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The town is pretty small with virtually no mobile phone reception. Their post office only allows for sending, not receiving, but it does have banking and bill payment services.
A bit of a run down place.

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Somebody left what appeared to be an old style prospecting pan in the train junk yard.

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What kind of tree is that?
I think you'll find it's an oleandor...
It's poisonous.
Quote from: "Bricktop"
I think you'll find it's an oleandor...
It's poisonous.
It's kind of pretty though.
Yes. Its a nice tree.
It has a lethal toxin, but you'd have to ingest a lot of it and it's extremely unpalatable.
It's not native here though. It's spread throughout the world. Nobody knows where it originates from.
I didn't bother taking a picture of the mining company sign posted by the nearby creek, but it said that the water was not fit for consumption, ie Tullah and nearby Rosebery have water quality issues due to over a century of mining. The sign didn't mention it but the truth is only an internet search engine away at least in regards to Rosebery and I suspect the same for Tullah since there's a mining operation just above it.
That tree might be less poisonous than the runoff. Dunno
Wait til you get to Queenstown.
Now THAT'S a landscape raped by mining.
//https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/about/regions-of-tasmania/west-coast/queenstown
The moon looks positively green and lush by comparison.
A long day of toilet breaks, stomach issues from motion sickness (when hubby sees a 100kph sign with yellow advisory signs on nearby winding stretches of road advising nearly half the limit, he thinks it's a racing challenge for some stupid reason and turns off the safety options) means we're happy to relax in Strahan, watch some kids shows, and maybe get a pub or bistro meal from one of the few options around.

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For those who didn't know, Tasmanian businesses nearly all shutter up shop at 5pm, supermarkets are lucky to go to 7pm, and restaurants by around 9-9:30pm although in Davenport (a medium sized town) our first night, we drove around looking for a restaurant immediately after exiting the ferry and had to settle for a 24 Hour fast food joint.
Quote from: "Bricktop"
Wait til you get to Queenstown.
Now THAT'S a landscape raped by mining.
//https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/about/regions-of-tasmania/west-coast/queenstown
The moon looks positively green and lush by comparison.
Read about it but we bypassed it due to the tummy bladder issues. Will still hit it on the way back since this trip is also to see the suitability for retirement and we'd like to know what's available around each area.
Lunch at Strahan bakery, followed by a walk along the foreshore investigating the woodworking shops and fishing vessels. Weather was a nice sunny 12c but windy.

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It has since turned to overcast and misty.
Tomorrow we're meant to go on a river and harbour cruise to check out wildlife, scenery, and a couple of islands, one being apparently the worst penal colony in Australia in its era.
Our accommodation has a barbecue area so we decided to grill up some meat and veggies to go with a salad.

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Tomorrow is meant to be cooler and seeing as it was impossible to find a jacket for the LO back in Victoria as summer is around the corner in the chain shop offerings and there was nothing suitable at the little opportunity shop here, she'll be wearing a hoody with 4 of these stuck to the fabric and a rain coat if necessary when we're on the water tomorrow.

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Something to consider here is that Tasmanian radio stations are huge fans of Hall & Oates. They get played on virtually all radio stations. It's bizarre to think that music from nearly 40 years ago gets played across the board.

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Hells Gate, Macquarie Harbour.
The dangerous heads.
Various pics of Sarah Island the penal colony in the early 1800's , the Gordon River and rain forest. No particular order.

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We're probably going to hit Queenstown then Cradle Mountain tomorrow on the way back to the ferry.
We drove through the region on the way down from Launceston but didn't turn off to check it out.
Travelling with little one can be a chore. The need to be constantly entertained is all consuming!
The prevailing wisdom is that if one sits by a stream in the evening or at first light in the morning, one can see a wild platypus or two frolicking in a handful of streams all around us.

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Yeah, fat chance. We see more platypus back in Victoria. Pretty much all mammals back there. This state is so frigid that the wildlife must be huddling in dens and wind breaks most of the time.
https://youtu.be/tAi4itQg4PQ
^ this is Lake Plimsoll as seen by somebody else with a drone. Beautiful, no? Best I can figure out, it's a manmade lake and dam as part of the Tasmanian hydroelectric system and in the middle of nowhere.
We were driving back, saw a sign for a boat ramp, and thought what the hell. Let's stop and get a birds eye view of it while stretching our legs.
No sooner did we pull up in the gravel and open our doors were we set upon a pair of birds. We heard them first, then they came out of the scrub like two lost souls on a deserted island happy that a plane landed.

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We thought 'weird', thought out loud 'maybe somebody dumped them here or they're part of a local farm' despite all surrounds and sheer amount of rocky terrain suggesting otherwise.
So we went down to the boat ramp and they dutifully followed.

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Always only a few feet away, it was like they were put there to fleece tourists of their food by Tasmanian jokers who knew where to collect their eggs or we were being too harsh and the pair of these succulent meals with no sign of being want for a feed had managed to stay plump in the wild up until we pulled up and bum rushed us before we got out of the utility.
Yeah, fat chance.
We still watched them fight over a tomato that we would have been required to put into a quarantine bin eventually, due to the fruit fly introduction to Northern Tasmania from the mainland.
Whoever put those birds there are fcking deviously smart! And they have mucho eggs.

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It wasn't a huge deal in the grand scheme of things but for us, it's why we like driving and stopping wherever without reservations. We get to sometimes see weird stuff, or experience cool stuff like a grandmother in Strahan, Tas who had her grandkids at the local playground and insisted they include our little girl in their play, which they did happily. Or the young man I met on the boat back today who spilled how his fiancee had just thrown her engagement ring back at him on deck 9 because her family didn't like a 4 week Victorian to Tasmanian 19 year old transplant, which as he pointed out 'never beat a woman and never would' unlike the guy her parents were aiming again for.
The state is a weird and wonderful place. A small town on a big state sized island full of honest people.
When will you return home?
Quote from: "Fashionista"
When will you return home?
We took the ferry early this morning and got back late Saturday night. It's Sunday morning here now, early hours.