Spirit of Tasmania

Does not that take you down Montague Street? Are you wanting him to shave the top off his van?

Melbourne's notoriously low Montague Street bridge

Yes, thanks Peter, don't go that way if the van is over 3m High.

Its hard to believe that bridge is so stupidly low, Whats stopping, whoever is in charge of the road, digging the road down 2 metres lower for 100 metres either side of the bridge and resurface it? Instead they put rubber things hanging down to let you know that you are about to hit the bridge and you'd better duck!!! Michael

Which freeway are you talking about? What is your route?

Follow this route Copy the lot to your browser'


https://www.google.com.au/maps/dir/Kilmore,+Victoria+3764/Spirit+of+Tasmania,+Station+Pier,+Waterfront+Pl,+Port+Melbourne+VIC+3207/@-37.7484796,144.8887429,13.5z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x6ad7bcd5ee6b0fb1:0x40579a430a07e00!2m2!1d144.9497232!2d-37.3016566!1m5!1m1!1s0x6ad667bc6c0302c9:0x1d04567609f5b320!2m2!1d144.9317951!2d-37.8426357

Thank you Racey. That looks pretty easy. And just to make sure, I'll do a dry run sometime in Dec, without the van.

Racey & Donnyj, the only issue with this route is that it has Toll Points down the Tulla Freeway & Bolte Bridge. So long as you are prepared to pay the Toll Fees, it is OK.

Macca.

Excellent info as I was going to post a question about this. For our trip boarding starts at 7:00am and finishes at 8:45am so I was planning to arrive between 7:45 and 8:00 assuming it's a consistent process and about half those waiting will have cleared by then. Also, if there was a delay in the process provided you're in the queue you should be fine.

Earlier is better than later.

If, when boarding approaches closure, you are not being attended to by the loaders because you are at the back of the queue out on the street behind unbooked hopefuls you may miss out because you're considered a no show. The hopefuls ahead of you may get your spot.

Get there early. If you find yourself running late, get yourself onto Beach St west of the roundabout at Princes St, or get onto Princes St. You can then use the roundabout rules to break into the queue that forms along Waterfront Pl and Beach St east of the roundabout. See the map below.

It's two years since I used the Spirit. In that period the local council may have placed restrictions on Beach St west and Princes St, or there may be better traffic arrangements. Try a dry run if you can, or make some enquiries.

Cheers

Thanks for the info. I can’t believe there is a possibility of unbooked hopefuls getting a reserved spot! Surely there is a way to prevent this by contacting them and advising your stuck behind the unbooked? I might give them a call for advice about boarding. It really sounds like the infrastructure to support the SOT isn’t adequate.

No problem getting there early if that’s what’s necessary.

I hope you don’t get too crook!
I was told to take quell’s or some sort of sea sick tablets, and start the day before, has worked for me.
Cheers

Donny, get hold of some Ginger tablets, they are the ducks gonads for seasickness.

Cheers, Ron.

There's 3 types of sea sick
1) feeling sick
2) being sick
3) wanting to die
If you are a person who suffers from sea sickness try the quells or what ever brand a few weeks before you go, just to see if they effect you, They can make some people worse, Don't eat dairy before trip, Make sure your ears are clear a blocked Estuation tube can set off the most seasoned sailor off. A lot of people who sit & read get crook but when they don't read are fine, fresh air helps & the centre (midships) of the ship & as low as possible is the best spot on board
Remember Rule No1 don't spew into the wind & lets hope its a mill pond crossing for you

Sea-sickness is a very real thing on the Spirit at that time of year. It takes a fair bit to get me sea sick but once I'm feeling sick I quickly progress to stage 3 want to die stage. Once you feel sick nothing really works. Many medications/herbal treatments actually make you feel worse. I swear by wearing sea-bands and recently put them to the test on a cruise ship with the kids. Of the 4 of us one would not wear them until they felt sick and the rest of us did. Guess who started to feel sick first. As soon as they started wearing the sea band they felt better and kept it on all trip no matter what the conditions. We were on board for 12 days and the final 3 were horrendously rough. Go to the chemist and look for sea bands. They are 2 stretchy bands of ribbing you put around your wrist - each band has a small plastic dot that you line up under your wrist to press lightly on the area where you feel for a pulse. Honestly they work. There are often a few different brands of the same thing and it doesn't matter, all the same. Best of all you can keep re-using them. Cost about $10 a pair and come in a little hard plastic case. I even swam with them on when I did the Rottnest Channel swim.

I've certainly been at stage three too many times for my liking. I think what works for sea sickness is quite individual. Travacalm (original) has worked for me for a day's bobbing around fishing off Bermagui. Ginger tablets; I have tried them, all I can say is they better work for you, because they're not much fun on the way back up! Did get myself a set of sea legs many years ago when doing some work on board a small research vessel (based on a ~50 ft trawler) in 30+ knot winds and waves the height of the wheel house, the process was big wad of plastic bags, a bed and a death like state for about 12 hours. A few years inland without going to sea and I was back to square one unfortunately. Hope you have a reasonable trip. I ended up being roped into a short cruise on the Queen Elisabeth, Melb-Burnie-Sydney in February, not sure I'm looking forward to it.

Michelle
I did not want to tell him that it’s the sea sick time of year, normally a full boat, lots of people sick, the smell etc. I was trying to give him hope, lots of people swear by the bands, I’m glad it worked for your family there nothing worse than being on a holiday & feeling crook, luckily my kids & I don’t have any issues with monition sickness to the point that we can easily hand out the sick bags, hold the pony tails out of the way etc., the one good thing about the spirt crossing its only about 9hrs on the double crossings & about 11hrs on single crossing so those who were crook should recover quickly once on land

Probably a bit like big airport signs, I guess.
I think I remember them, we went to tassie on the ferry back in January, but a bit easier, we were on motorcycle’s . Not towing.
Good luck and have a great time. Well worth the trip.