Set my alarm for 5.00am (my God who gets up at the time?), and was out of bed, showered and on deck by 6.00am. The ship was already docked and a dark, foggy and industrial Devonport was looming outside. The glowing arches of that famous Scottish Restaurant was Tasmania's most visible landmark. This was clearly the working part of the coastline. I didn't want it to be too nice, the start today is going to be a little dull. The first port of call is the laundromat (a bachelors work is never done).
Had a magnificent dinner last night. Met some really interesting people. Stuart and Claire. Stuart (a native Scot who has called Australia home for 20 years) travels the world running the media centres for Formula One racing and was currently working on his second book with our own star of the circuit, the unluckiest man in Formula One, Mark Webber.
We connected when Stuart heard me ask the waiter about the best whisky distillery/s to visit. They are spending the next 10 days travelling around Tasmania, but are far more organised than myself and have booked accommodation and done sensible things like that.
Weather today is predicted to be cloudy and 18 degrees. The crossing itself was uneventful. We left port about 15 minutes early at 7.15pm and headed out Port Phillip Bay using the channel buoys to mark our lanes. Watching this behemoths manoeuvre around is like watching a sumo wrestler doing ballet. It's graceful, beautiful and mesmerising but it just doesn't look right. We had to pass an inbound freighter and I watched as both ships made elegant yet cumbersome moves to avoid one another. It was all done with such consummate skill and ease but I found it compelling to watch.
It took until 9.30pm to clear the bay then they really fired up the ships engines and we headed south to Devonport. There were 20 to 30 knot winds and the swell was 1.5 to 2.0 metres. All in all an uneventful crossing. I love being on the open water in a big ship, there is something hopelessly romantic about it. I feel the need to wax lyrical about it and drop as many nautical terms into my blogging as possible. Maybe I could change my handle from Sirwhisky to Earnest Lost-His-Way and pen the tome "The Middle Aged Man and the Sea".
It took until 9.30pm to clear the bay then they really fired up the ships engines and we headed south to Devonport. There were 20 to 30 knot winds and the swell was 1.5 to 2.0 metres. All in all an uneventful crossing. I love being on the open water in a big ship, there is something hopelessly romantic about it. I feel the need to wax lyrical about it and drop as many nautical terms into my blogging as possible. Maybe I could change my handle from Sirwhisky to Earnest Lost-His-Way and pen the tome "The Middle Aged Man and the Sea".
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