​We're all at sea! 13 April

Ships passing in the day! The sister ship with a load of people bound for Van Deimen's land.

I woke to the deep throbbing of engines as the Spirit pulled in to Devonport dock - well before dawn. An early start with a rushed coffee before lining up for the long wait to board. Ah the horror of return journeys, the interminable waiting, the sadness of leaving great places yet tinged with excitement for home and the next/promised journeys!

As the sun sets slowly over Port Phillip Bay we drank a toast to our next journey.

It was a perfect crossing. Little swell, sunshine and we were through the Heads before we knew it - didn't feel even the slightest swell. Just lucky I guess. So ends a fantastic visit to the apple isle. Next time ...? There are still walks to do, still birds to find, still glorious fungi to discover. Next time we'll come in winter or at least late Autumn when the endemic deciduous beech (Nothofagus gunnii not the myrtle beech Nothofagus Cunninghamii - so my book says!) is turning gold-red and the fungi are coming into their own. I have still to find a liverwort - next time!!

Our fair city sitting pearly in the approaching dusk. Lovely!

For now, a mere 2 weeks in Melbourne before we hook up the old girl again - the van! I'm already hooked haha - and point our wheels towards parts north and west. Heading for Kakadu and Cobourg Peninsula and elsewhere to magical places with names that fascinate - Litchfield, Katherine, the Bungle Bungles, Gibb River Road, the Ord river, Fitzroy Crossing.

Chat to you from along the road.