Spirit of Tasmania

Thats the holiday $ea$on..definately in advance..months..6 months..you seem to know your arrival and departure dates..?

You do know it will be expen$ive then..?..car AND van.

G'day,
Get on to the web site www.spiritoftasmania.com.au
you can do your bookings on line, or you can have a dummy run to see if your sailing dates are available and what the cost will be.
Your will require the overall length of the van, work out what accommodation you want and it will give you the cost.
If you are coming in January I would be looking at booking NOW.
Hope this helps.
Baz
PS Hang the cost, just come you won't be disappointed.

To be certain, I booked three months in advance, and picked up a couple of reduced fare days that fitted right into our time frame. Still a big cost, but well worth it. Ours were such that we could defer the trip to any time within twelve months if something went wrong to prevent our travels but we could not get our money back. We could also defer the return subject to availability. When we were there a number of people did this as they had under estimated the time it takes to tour in Tasmania.

Motherhen

I seem to remember discussion on here about gas bottles etc on the ferry. Might pay to check the regulations.

We looked into it as well about 3 years ago, ended up spending a month travelling.
Left the trailer at home, saved a bucket on the trip over the ditch and for van parks, petrol etc, enough for the equation to work out more affordable by staying in great B&B's and similar (3-4 days at a time) all over the island.

Would never bother about travelling there with a van again. Just too much hard work.

Got great accommodation deals in all the major towns, and better deals in the country towns.

They will ask the height of the rig too. Determines which deck they will put you on.

Would not dream of going without the van 21ft sterling went a couple of years ago booked 6 months in advance best place inoz to tour in a van fantastic have fun we will be back
Steve

I'm another one for taking your van if you have one.

We went for 3 weeks in Feb 2013, Landcruiser and Tvan, cost $1100 return with day recliners.

We have just bought a Bushtracker van, and are looking at returning in 2015 for 2 months. It's a great place to travel and just take it easy.

As a mainlander that now lives in Tassie I have done the trip many times during all seasons both with and without something in tow. My advice would be book as early as you can (don't worry about the cost you will have a great time and it will be worth it, and you can't take money with your dead so spend it now). Remember there are not that many spaces for vehicles over 2.1m high so sooner the better. With the accommodation side personally I would avoid the recliners as I have never heard anyone say that they got a good sleep in them and if you don't travel well on the water I couldn't think of anything worse than being sick and stuck in a room full of strangers. Another tip is the food on the boat is overpriced and not that great (not too bad just think RSL not at its best) so we usually go to the markets in Melbourne and get some stuff to take on with us. but remember fresh fruit will not be allowed off in tassie. If you get to the dock in Melbourne early you have a few choices being park on the main road and pay for parking and enjoy the waterfront do a bit of fishing of the jetty etc. or if you head up towards luna park there are some back streets (look up mary street ;-) ) that are free untimed parking, this is where we often park and either catch a cab or a tram into town for the day and come back in time to board the boat.
If you want any more info just ask

All finally booked. And thanks very much to you all for your very helpful advice. Quick summary - The final bill came to $1805. We depart Melbourne Sun 19 Jan and return 15th March. 12.7m overall length and 2.85 high. 19th Jan daylight crossing with 'ocean recliners' and 15th March overnight with 'porthole twin cabin'. All a bit exxy but we've never been before and it promises to be a very memorable holiday. We are doing ten weeks in Europe Oct to mid Dec followed by Tassie so it will have a bit to live up to.Once again thanks for all your great advice, the response was a bit overwhelming.

Happy days ...................... Kev.