Day 0 - Bangor to Devonport and Day 1 - Geelong to Berwick
It was a very emotional departure from Bangor on Sunday afternoon. No Greg, and a real fear that Slick the wonder dog may not be there when I return - and that he will fear I have left him like his Daddy did. Anna and Alex the housesitters are great and will ply him with love and attention, and I'll ring him (obviously via Anna!) every few days so he can hear my voice.
Only a few kilometres up the road, with tears still obscuring my drive, I ran into this Bangor style traffic jam.
A good distraction and I was soon on my way with clearer eyes. I arrived in Devonport an hour and a half later and was met by Fiona who used to work for me, and we had coffee in Cafe Phoenix (yes, that's the caravan). Only too quickly, I had to pack up the coffee machine and drive around the corner to board and was on board by 4:30pm. Thanks to a very considerate friend who happens to run the Spirits, I found myself with an upgrade to a deluxe cabin but still put on my big girl pants and headed out to the bar for a drink with other people around me, and then dinner.
A bit of rocking kept me awake for a good part of the night until the wake up call came at 6:15am (even though I'd been awake for ages). A shower and then the call for my vehicle deck and I was driving off at about 7:15am. Neill and Jude came to pick me up and we headed out for breakfast, leaving the van securely parked up. Good on them for getting up early so I had some friendly faces at the end of my somewhat lonely crossing.
After breakfast, with my big girl pants on again, I headed up the highway. It was sunny in Geelong and I needed sunglasses but as soon I came out the other side of the Burnley tunnel, it was raining, and continued through to Berwick. I arrived at this lovely campsite which wouldn't usually rate on our campsite rating scale, but the company is exceptional and the services very impressive.
An afternoon of catching up and a little bit of retail therapy in all these big shops that we don't have in Tassie before dinner with Lisa's extended family, who have been my second family for 42 years. They all wanted to celebrate my birthday early with me and even the restaurant kitchen came to the party despite us saying we were so full we couldn't eat dessert.
A wonderful start to the birthday I have been dreading as my first without Greg by my side in 24 years. But beautiful friends and family made it fun.
This little ducky is a bit tired after the big day's travels and rough sleep on the ship so it's off to sleep in a much more stable caravan.
posted by Tracey @ 10:39 pm
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