Tassie 17-1-23

[Big Red]

Picked up Doris the 'Deo who will accompany me on my Tasmania Trip.
Fitted the Carry Me Camper on to the tray and wired up two Auxillary batteries inside it, fitted new battery to the Engel and ran it on test all day with the solar mat connected to it. looks good so vacuumed out the camper ready to start packing it tomorrow.
Looks a fair bit smaller that MissRed but i guess that is the point.
i could not get a booking for MissRed as she is too tall and the earliest return trip was August so i am borrowing my Brother in Law Graeme's 2WD Rodeo Ute and Carry Me Camper which fit under the 2.1 M limit for cars.
Booking is for 10:30 Am 21-1-23 on the Spirit of Tasmania with a return on 7 March

[Big Red]

18-1-23:
Packed the bare basics of what i need for the Tassie trip into Doris so will sleep in her tonight to see how it all works ... gotta pick up another container for junk tomorrow on my way south.

[Big Red]

19-1-23:

My first sleep in Doris wasn’t too bad, The bed is a bit short and the headroom non existent but the extra length of the second mattress makes a good back rest and the extra thickness insulates me from the cold steel floor. 9°C overnight was a good test.
I bid a sad farewell to MissRed and hit the road in Doris.
First stop was Bunnings to pick up another box to stow loose gear in then hit the road again.
I travelled through Trentham East and his the dirt to Lerderberger State forest and made camp there, nice spot near a shallow stream with a bit of birdlife to keep me company, looks like another chilly night.

[Big Red]

20-1-23:

I headed off to O’Briens Crossing then walked out to the Tunnel along an old water race that was used to keep the gully below dry for mining.

At the Tunnel the Lerderberg River was diverted to allow mining of the loop of the river the tunnel bypassed.

[Big Red]

I headed down to the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry terminal to check it out before camping in the carpark.
I watched the #1 Ferry Davenport arrive and unload before heading out again 3 hours later.

[Big Red]

[Big Red]

[Big Red]

21-1-23:

To access the ferry you drive down the road to the right of the ferry terminal building all the way to the water then do a U turn and veer left into the boarding lanes where you are sorted and sent under the building for inspection then line up in your designated lane in the giant carpark to await boarding.
I had camped in the carpark so at dawn i took some pics, made a coffee and around 6:30 lined up second in line as boarding gates were due to open at 8:00 ... they opened at 7:15 so i thought "beauty, we'll be early or at least on time for the 10:30 departure.

[Big Red]

Of course the ship left at 11:45, 1 1/4 hours late so a full 2 hours longer to load than it was supposed to.
The refuelling boat beside us left at about 11.30 but not sure if it had already finished.
We docked at 9:45 and i got off at 10:45. could not find anything open to buy butane cannisters of food so headed out to Kindred Alma Reserve to camp

[Big Red]

22-1-23:

After a bit of a look around camp I headed back to the BCF and picked up some Butane cannisters and a heated blanket just in case.





On the way i spotted a Steam Train making ready.