From Nicos to a crotchety crossing

We spent a day in Melbourne before we caught the ferry so we had a patch of time catching up with family and friends at Nikos, a Greek cakeshop-cum-deli on a shabby homely corner in the colourful, eclectic and vibrant suburb of Oakleigh. 

Thanks to my sister who introduced us to the wonderful ethnic mall we have been enjoying coffees at Nikos for decades, since way back when it was a corner cake shop just selling sweet and sticky Greek treats. 

Then it offered a couple of rickety tables slanted along a cracked pedestrian pavement outside where folk grabbed a coffee before or during market shopping. The coffee was always great, the korabiedes always excellent.

Most of Melbourne has, in recent years, discovered Nikos. The cafe is now huge and casually stylish: extended on both sides and well into the centre of the mall, overflowing with shady umbrella tables. Service starts early, and we were there from morning coffee until mid-afternoon, when the crowd swelled to a loud crescendo. 

Lovely atmosphere, delicious smells, huge staff, friendly service and plenty of happy and noisy customers: its a really feel-good place, especially on a weekend. 

The ferry to Devonport from Port Melbourne advertises boarding at 4.30 pm for a 7.40 pm ferry. Do not bother arriving these three hours in advance. Arrive, instead, no more than half an hour before the ferry leaves. You might, then, board with some efficiency and in some degree of comfort.

We left Nikos and had to pay for a carpark spot in the Port Melbourne cafe precinct while we waited until 4.30pm, as there is no ferry parking in the area. Amazing that the Spirit of Tasmania is allowed to operate with no parking made available for their potential clients who are literally clogging the surrounding streets, waiting to board. Parking fees in the Port Melbourne cafe precinct has been deliberately raised to $4.20 per hour, attempting to deter ferry folk from occupying every nook and cranny. But how can they not? Many foreign visitors we heard today were vitriolic at these parking prices, and even the locals were agreeing that they really are outrageous. 

From 4.30pm, when the first vehicle was shepherded into the ferry terminal proper, it took a further hour and a half to negotiate just two hundred metres of pre-boarding parking lanes before being shepherded onto the boat. The 4.30 loading time seems to be just an excuse to get traffic out of the neighbourhood streets (no doubt at the insistence of the municipality) and into these parking lanes. It was well after 6 o'clock when we boarded. 

Hot. Carpark-slow. And crotchety. The food on board was overpriced, generically tasteless, unimaginative and cold. We vowed not to eat onboard on the return -- and we didn't. 

The trip on this slow boat to Devonport cost us over $1200 return. We spoke to another couple on board who had a caravan; they paid $1600 return. Much longer and larger European ferries don't come close to matching these exorbitant Australian prices. And in these days of prohibitive costs in Australia, such excessive ferry charges mean it is unlikely that such travellers will bother to return to Tasmania any time soon. Thank goodness the view from the boat back to Geelong was soothing. 

Simply the best

Especially the korabiedes

Finally, we make the ferry 

Looking back at Geelong