Saturday 27th November 2010 – As I have 3.5 weeks before I need to be in Whyalla, I’ve decided to go to Tasmania for 2 weeks instead of going east around the coast to Bateman's Bay (as my friends were going to be away). I could have sworn the ferry was at 5.30pm yesterday and that check-in, being 2.5 hours before, was at 3.00pm. So Lou guided me down to the ferry terminal (thank god, as I’d never have found it myself) and got me there for precisely 3.00pm. However the man at the gate then advised me boarding would commence at 4.30pm. I thought this was a bit odd, but didn’t question it, however, when at 5.30 we were all still waiting to board and I was advised that boarding wouldn’t commence to 6.00pm, I fished out my ticket to discover that the ferry was actually scheduled to leave at 7.30pm, not 5.30pm (damn 24 hour clock, I always get confused with it)!

However, the extra wait was not wasted as I met a big group of bikers from Western Australia, and another couple of guys from WA called Pat & Martin. There was also a group of bikers from the Australian Outlaws but they were a bit too scary to talk to.

So this morning the ferry docked in Devonport and I rolled off to start my loop of Tassie. The roads here are much better than on the mainland apart from all the road kill, and, alas, I think a few Tasmanian Devils will among the victims. My route took me east to Port Sorrel, then to Exeter, then across the Batman Bridge to George Town and Bridport where I checked in to the YHA. There was a group of gardening enthusiasts there who were very friendly and one even gave me her number to contact when I get to Hobart. A very intense young man called James also checked in and did his best to convince me he was totally over his ex-girlfriend by talking about her all night! The warden was also very friendly and, as there was a band on at the local hotel we arranged to go together to see it. Unfortunately the whole town experienced a blackout that night when a car ran into a power line, so we had to abandon that outing.