It was rough, not as rough, I would reflect as coming back, but it was rough and noisy.
The day I was on the ferry going over to Tasmania coincided with one of the windiest days (and nights) in Victoria and Tasmania.
As with last time, and the time before that I'd been to Tasmania, the lie of the Spirit of Tasmania adverts continued. All the adverts may say that you can just drive on and drive off in one easy fluid manner.
The reality is a bit less romantic.
How boarding happens onto the Spirit of Tasmania at Port Melbourne:
First things first, you arrive and queue up, then get questioned by Wilsons Security.
In queue to entrance to Station Pier.
You need to open the bonnet of your car and open up the doors and boot, or tray in my case with a ute. You will be asked if you're carrying; fuel, firearms, gas bottles, fresh fruit, fish and a couple of other things.
If you answer negative to these you will be given a red card thing to hang from your rear view mirror.
You will then drive through the Station Pier and around the corner, none of this is very well signposted, you kind of just follow the person in front of you.
From there, there are two queues to queue up in. A left queue and a right queue.
These lead the the ticket booth to get your boarding pass and room pass/key.
This is important, if you're driving solo, take the LEFT queue, this is because the ticket booth is in the middle of these two lanes and if you take the right you either have to get out or reach across your vehicle to the window, like if you drove a right-hand-drive vehicle in a left-hand-drive country.
It's terrible and something I've learnt about only from going on the ferry twice in the past. No where does it offer advice like this.
Car queuing to get onto ship
Once you have your boarding pass you're in another queue to actually get onto the ship.
The very narrow passage into the ship
If you just have your vehicle and are not towing anything then be prepared to be directed into the bowels of the ship.
Deck 2 is where I was directed this time (both going over and coming back).
It is; through the front of the ship, along a very narrow driveway, only slightly wider than most normal-sized vehicles.
Then around a corner, and down a steep ramp, the ramp is closed during sailing with a heavy door that can be driven over.
Once inside this deck you will note a few things.
It's a weird shape, and two, you will be directed into either side of the room, which means you'll either need to do a three point turn now or tomorrow when you leave.
Deck 2.
It's very tight, although there is enough room to open your car doors, probably not to the second notch, but enough to the first.
As you leave the vehicle deck, take the bit of paper near the lift, this tells you which lift / stairs to use and where your vehicle is.
You may be tempted to wait for the lift, and if you're old, infirm or quite unfit, take the lift. It is 5 flights of stairs to climb to get from Deck 2 up to Deck 7.
Deck 7 is where (most of) the bars, entertainment and food is. It's also where a lot of the cabins are located. Some are one deck up on Deck 8.
I took the stairs and was a little puffed by the time I got to Deck 7.
Corridor on deck 7 - Cabins both sides.
I have in the past tried all of the cabins on offer on the Spirit of Tasmania; inner cabin (located somewhere near the engines; very noisy, full of vibrations), standard cabin (porthole view, two single beds, okay enough, above the pet deck, noisy) and the deluxe cabin, these located looking over the bow of the ship have a double bed, TV, fridge and place to sit, they're more pricey but so much easier to get a good night's sleep.
That is if you're not sailing through gale-force winds.
Which is what I was.
The most disconcerting thing that night was the noise of the waves hitting the side of the ship followed by the clang though its structure.
For dinner the Tasmanian Market Kitchen is a buffet, and I discovered was all you can eat. You pay your $28.50 and get a stamp, entitling you to all you can eat buffet, and it's a carvery buffet as well, with also fried stuff like chips, fish etc plus post-mix soft drink, coffee, tea and dessert.
It's a really great deal.
After eating I went to bed. Hoping for a easy night's sleep, uninterrupted and relaxed.
It was anything but.
It was rough, noisy and disrupted.
I'd never been on a ship this rough before and didn't think it'd be matched (coming back however challenged this).
The sea was rough, but it was the noise of the waves crashing into the ship combined with the noise of the wind whistling around the ship.
It was really quite awful.
Every so often I'd hear a car alarm go off beneath me.
This did worry me that my ute's alarm might be going off. I had gone through the manual to try and work out how to completely disable it and failed.
But I was fairly confident that the rough seas wouldn't be affecting it, down on deck 2 of the ship, that's quite low in the ship's centre of gravity, unlike where my cabin was on deck 7, or even where the vehicles' whose alarms I could hear on deck 6 below me.
I woke up a few times during the night from the noise of the wind, rain and sea, so I didn't end up getting the best night's sleep during the night, and arrived at Devonport the next day...less than fully rested.