Archive for January, 2010

After a far too early alarm and throwing a few final things in the back of the car, it was off to Station Pier in Port Melbourne to … wait. And then to … wait a bit longer. But it’s ok, because after that I got to … wait longer still. Apparently there were large numbers of passengers today. Now there’s a surprise, with the Spirit of Tasmania being a passenger ferry and all.

My old pack had finally given up the ghost after a decade of being dragged around the world, and as I laid my shiny new one on the bed to fill it up with the ‘essentials’ it suddenly occurred to me how just how much I was putting in. That third pair of trousers. Half a dozen travel guides and other books. A toiletries bag so full that I had to put a few items in a plastic bag. Here was me, supposedly an experienced traveller, fighting with the zips on my backpack. Every item had a perfectly good justification for why it was included – but unless I also planned to pack a donkey to carry it all for me, I just couldn’t take it all. And yet I still tried.