Our Return to Oz - Day 1: Sailing to Tassie

Playing around in cool chairs in Auckland

This is a very very exciting trip and week for us.  Our second trip to Australia is the result of a promise I made to Todd back in the States:  If you come to New Zealand, we'll go to th closest Forumla 1 race.  The closest F1 race happens to be the Australian Grand Prix and it happens this coming weekend in Melbourne.  In making the most of this trip, we flew to Oz yesterday and are going to spend a few days in Tasmania before flying back to Melbourne on Wednesday for race weekend.

Why Tasmania you ask?  Todd's friend (and first boss at ATI) Shane grew up in Tasmania, and we've heard stories about it for years.  When we figured out we were coming to New Zealand, we knew that would definitely be sure to make it to Tassie in honor of our dear friend Shane.

While I wouldn't necessarily blog about the airports or our flights in our trip from New Zealand yesterday, they were much more fun than usually.  Michael, organizer of the Catlins trip is a very frequent flyer with Air New Zealand which means he gets kick ass access (meaning he can bring guests) to the Koru Lounge.  The Koru Lounge is (probably) like all of those other fancy schmancy lounges at airports that you have to be special to get into, and we got to be special!  We had breakfast in the Dunedin Koru Lounge (which is tiny and not that cool I'm told) and then after our flight to Auckland got to spend a serious chunk of time in the Auckland Koru Lounge (which is bigger and fancier).  Michael's flight from Auckland left a couple of hours before ours, but once you're in, you're in.  Todd and I didn't leave until it was time to catch our flight.  Before Michael left, we all had lunch and drank delicious New Zealand wines...which you just helped yourself to out of the refrigerators.  Yum!  We'll actually meet up with Michael again on our return trip.  We're both landing in Christchurch and have some time before our flight back to Dunedin...just enough time to check out the Chch Koru Lounge.  Yes!

Cool sculptures at the Melbourne airport

After landing in Melbourne and getting to our hotel, we had time for a quick dinner and watching a bit of cricket at a coffee bar before heading to bed.  Today was an early morning, because we had to board the Spirit of Tasmania for our day sail down to Devonport, Tasmania.  The Spirit of Tasmania is like a cross between the Interislander and a cruise ship.  It usually sails overnight between Melbourne and Devonport, but in the summer, a few day sails are added to the schedule. 

Sunrise in Melbourne

Early fisherman catches the fish

Luckily, today's day sail worked perfectly with our schedule.  The boat left at 9am, and after a few hours sailing out of Melbourne through Port Philip Bay, we reached the relatively small exit from the bay and sailed through it to the Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania.

 

Right now, we're about halfway through the 9 hour voyage. 

View from our Ocean Recliner seats...watching where we've been

Clearly this is a popular shipping route

A seal sunning himself in the waves

Passing from Port Philip Bay to the Bass Strait

See?  It was a relatively small space to sail through.

We'll get to Devonport around 6:30pm tonight, pick up our rental car, and drive ourselves to Cradle Mountain National Park.  Our entire Tasmania itinerary was recommended by Shane, and we can't wait to see as much as we can.  After doing a bit of exploring at Cradle Mountain, we'll drive east through Deloraine and Campbell Town to Coles Bay and Freycinet (fray-sin-ay) National Park.  The following day, we'll head from Coles Bay down to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania and it's largest city.  on Wednesday, we fly back to Melbourne, where we'll be submerging ourselves in all the F1 activities taking place as well as taking time to explore Melbourne (seriously we well - Todd says).  A fellow F1 fan, Elena is flying over on Friday to be here for the race and will be staying with a friend she met in Auckland on our summer road trip.  The race is on Sunday, and on Monday, we all head back to New Zealand.

A jam packed 10 days for us here in Oz and while we're here, Mom and Dad arrive in New Zealand!  Mom and Dad land in New Zealand on Monday, 21 March (that's Sunday the 20th for you back in the States) and will slowly make their way down to Dunedin, taking in as much of this beautiful country as they can.  They'll be doing most of the journey by train, taking the Interislander between the islands, and then bussing from Chch to Dunedin, where we'll meet them on Wednesday, March 30th, two days after we return from Melbourne.

Too much fun, right?!  I know!  The blog will be busy and the posts will be coming fast and furiously.  Can't wait to share both of these trips with you!

From the middle of the Bass Strait, your Australiasia reporter, Laura B.