A short ride to Port Melbourne had us at Station Pier boarding the NEW Spirit of Tasmania. Its actually the old one but the paint on the outside is new. Still in all it was strange riding uyp the big ramp into the mouth of a such a big boat.

We settled into our cabin and found it to be quite comfortable. We had a four bed cabin as there were no two bed left. We had a water view as well. The boat left at 7.30 pm and we found one of the bars and beered up. Well I did anyway. Ria had an apple cider but that makes the trip sound poofy. After that we met up with a Tasmanian couple who were ridingf back to Zeehan after a holiday to Alice Springs. They invited us to stay at their placew but I waqs a bit worried they were looking to breed outside the family environment. Still in all they seemed OK. We sat and talked with them and had dinner at the restaurant on board. Whilst talking there was this old goose sitting beside who obviously was under the belief he was part of the conversation. Whilst our Zeehan friends tried to explain some great rides on the applke isle, the boofhead started waffling his uneducated opinion.

As my plan was to ride direct to Strahan upon landing, all sorts of suggestions came forth. Turns out this ride is dangerous and must be taken at a slow pace. (Boofhead's opinion) (Tony said it's all good and I chose to go with his opinion instead.

As we approached the heads the boat starts to rock quite a bit in the swell. This caused great difficulty with walking. It was decided to hit the sack. This offered no joy as we were rocking back and forth in the bunks. Ria fell asleep as soon as her feet were off the floor which is typical but I was still awake at 11.30.

Finally crashing I was awoken at 3.30 am when my face was slammed into the bunk wall. I couldn't get back to sleep so I woke Ria up just to make things fair. I eventually gave up hope at 5.00 am so a shower was had and we were ready to go.