I'm sitting in the Aztec now, waiting the last couple of hours before I can check in and board the Spirit of Tasmania II : Electric Boogaloo.
Earlier I spent an hour walking around Beaconsfield's Mining Museum before hitting the road to Devonport.
The museum is good, there are working scale replicas of the machinery once used as well as some full size working replicas. There is a whole room dedicated to the Anzac Day thing, where two guys were trapped for two weeks in the mine as well as other historical events.
I'm Johnny Knoxville and this is 'Steam Boiler'
This is the still working bit of the mine
Yesterday I tried to suggest that 'Flowery Gully' and 'Grubb Shaft' were somehow innuendos. I failed. However, inside the museum was a whole corridor dedicated to innuendos! So, without further ado, cue knob jokes!
Yes, a whole corridor of knob jokes thanks to a collection amassed from 1985 by a guy who clearly had wood. Each knob is from a different Australian
tree and they have all been carved into phallic symbols.
There is nothing funny about this.
Outside I was treated to the sight of around ten Alvises. The Alvis drivers' club were obviously about and they are exceptional looking cars.
The Alvis is on the left of this photo
And here's an MG
Then I was off for a 90 minute drive to Devonport, after looking at Batman Bridge!
Oh, it doesn't look very 'Batman'.
It also rained, for a bit.
I grabbed some food and wrote a blog post. And now you're up to date. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a boat to wait for.
My journey started with a single step, into Simon’s car and
on to Ballarat train station to get the 10:17 to Melbourne. Then I got the 109
tram to Port Melbourne and then... nothing, as I couldn’t check in to get on
the boat until about 5PM
Spirit of Tasmania II:Judgment Day
I dragged myself and my bag to look for a lunch serving
venue and found ‘The Local’, an odd name for a pub that is about 10,000 miles
from home. I had a pie and a pint and then set about doing nothing until 5.
After checking in I had to wait until 6 before I could go
through security to board the vessel. There was a TV with the Australian
version of Deal or No Deal on, which is rubbish. There’s just no connection
with the contestant and they fly through the numbers like they have a gun
pointed to their head. No tension building, no banker (just a number on top of
the screen, rather than a number Noel Edmunds thinks of as he talks to himself)
plus one of the prizes is a Peugeot.
So, clearing security I boarded the Spirit of Tasmania II :
Cruise Control. Most of the decks are reserved for cabins, cars and trucks, but
there are entertainment facilities (although these are reduced at this time of
year) the only deck worth being on was 7, with the cinema showing Thor and a
couple of bars, plus the souvenir shop.
Oh, and the arcade was closed.
There are two restaurants I could see, one looked a bit posh
and the other didn't, but they were both for the wealthy as even the buffet one
cost $25 for one plate! I went for that ‘deal’ and piled as much on that plate
as I could without looking like Oliver Twist with an all you can eat gruel
ticket and the rest is digestive history.
As I ate, the ‘what to do if we hit an iceberg’ video came
on. In short there are slides, life jackets and life boats and all the other
things that could have prevented every news channel banging on about the
Titanic the past few days. The reassuring thing is if a boat has an engine
failure it’s not a big deal compared to a plane suffering the same problem,
plus a plane doesn’t have views of Melbourne at this angle,
Unless something is very wrong.
I watched Thor, then slept in my ‘ocean recliner’ at the
stern which offered an ocean view at night, which isn’t too different to the
view from the Euro Star when it’s under the Channel.
I awoke a few hours later to the sound of a loudspeaker
telling me I could get off the ship at 6.30, great. But first a few pictures.
And now I’m sitting here waiting for my hire car so my
Tassie adventure can begin.
Update: Here she is...
The Kia Grand Carnival! That's a bit wordy, so I will call her The Aztec, as AZT are on the plate. Sorted, now Aztec... Roll out!
