Road Trip Day 2

[den]

March 31

Woke up at 8ish and discovered I'd missed azhdragon, who had to go to work. Thanks Alex, for once again letting me put up with you.

The ferry sailed at 7pm, so I had most of a day to kill.


I didn't really want to go into the city so I headed back into the Dandenong Range. I went back to Grant's for a wander through the tall Stringybark trees, the world's tallest flowering plants.

After driving around for a while, and ending up at Emerald Lakes again, I couldn't help myself. I had to put on the anorak and head to Belgrave Station.



And then it was time for lunch. Mount Dandenong Bakery Pies. Eat them; you will not be disappointed.

After lunch I popped in to the William Ricketts Sanctuary, a patch of rainforest bought by Ricketts and filled with his ceramic sculptures. He had this amazing way of blending ceramics and stone together so you couldn't tell where the joins were. Most of his subjects are Aborigines and The Bush



It rained several times and I found myself sheltering under a ceramic arch.



More photos of the sculptures are on my Flickr album.

Then it was time to wander through the tree ferns to a nearby cafe for a long mug of cappuccino and to dry out.



Finally it was time. I asked Ada to get us to the ferry, and we headed off to Port Melbourne. A couple of hours later I was at quarantine, being asked if I was carrying (in order of dangerousness) firearms, ammunition, fruit, vegetables, explosives, dairy products or LP Gas. I wasn't, and they let me in to the queue. Ada insisted I turn right, but I told her we were okay and put her to bed for the night.



By 7.30 I was in my room without a view. It was very comfy and worth the extra cost for a single, except I got a 4 berth cabin to myself. BONUS!



Then I took the camera up to the lifeboat deck to say goodbye to Melbourne.



At 8pm I settled down for a nice meal just as they announced we were leaving Melbourne. The engines revved up and as the ferry started to move a bunch of happy diners suddenly went greenish and dropped cutlery, pushed food away, etc. Good grief! If they were like that now, I wondered how they would cope when we left Port Philip Bay and entered Bass Strait. I coped well, in case you're wondering. I don't get seasick.

After dinner I retired to the bar on deck 10, ordered a Cascade Draught, and sipped the yummy beer while I read my book. About halfway through the fourth beer (or second pint) I noticed the movement of the ship had changed. We were going through the heads. Time for bed, so I finished the beer and headed for my bunk. Tomorrow I'll be in Tasmania.

Comments

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

11 hours: 8pm to 7am.

[beki.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. The only really long ferry ride around here is the one that goes up to Alaska. I forget how many days that one is. Folks have been known to pitch tents on the deck for that one. Most of the ones here are up to 2 hours (The Brenerton ferry) to as little as a half hour (Vashon Island)

[steve3.livejournal.com]

I once did a twelve hour ferry crossing from Calais to Dover because the weather was so bad and my car was on the deck of the ferry and it took months to get the salt of of the windscreen. I was the only person in the restaurant eating my sausage bacon chips and beans