Disclosure: This week’s blog is specifically written in order to share details, costs and the relevant processes of shipping a personally owned vehicle ( “POV” in shipping slang ) from another country to Australia.. I’ve thus split this blog into two parts: PART ONE – of general interest to readers who might wonder why we chose the shipping option ( versus others ), and PART TWO – which contains a great deal of detail and specific information ONLY relevant (and of any possible interest) to others who are contemplating bringing their own vehicle in. It will not be of ANY interest to you if you are not considering doing this yourself ( in which case you should pay close attention !) unless, perhaps, you have a particular curiosity about such an endeavor ( and few will ! ).
We relied very heavily on the shared experiences of others who went before us so this is simply a little “paying it forward” with more current information. I know a number of prospective overlanding “shippers” were looking for specific details of our experience, so, in lieu of our regular weekly ( “what we’re doing, where we’ve been” ) blog, here it is ( I’ll return to the regular stuff next week ! ).The extraordinary and unprecedented delays we ( and many others ) have faced in getting our cargo unloaded at the Port of Melbourne through January and February (that’s in 2023, in case you’ve not previously followed our regular blog ) would indeed make the casual reader question why someone would ever take on this somewhat daunting, incredibly time consuming and of course, rather expensive endeavour. The short answer is that if you travel long enough in Australia it actually does make sense, and such extraordinarily long shipping delays are usually very rare – obviously no one plans on encountering them. But, when you are caught up in them, like we were, there is simply nothing you can do but make the best of the situation ( difficult though that was at times !). This was our story.
PART ONE: Our Recent Experience
Our van parked on the port in Savannah, Georgia awaiting loading for Melbourne.Fumigation is done on the port of embarkation so theoretically it arrives in Australia ready to go. Our own shipper and other staff we spoke to in Melbourne said ( currently anyway ) almost all cargo is still marked for further washing on arrival.
It’s certainly fair to say that this whole port delay experience ( finally resolved on March 10 after a week of extraordinary stress ) put rather a damper ( temporarily anyway ) on our grand Aussie adventure. The fact that there was significant theft from our vehicle did not help. Obviously one takes with them ( on a plane ) anything and everything one can but weight restrictions mean you are practically limited in that regard. A lot of stuff stays with your vehicle and there was theft from the parts of the van that we simply could not secure. It’s an inherent risk on any RoRo ship since the vehicle is unlocked during the whole passage ( port drivers need to be able to drive it on and off ). We are insured but the deductible is fairly hefty and there are exclusions. We’ll be happy if we recover just most of what was lost. Undoubtedly some of our readers must be thinking, “Jeff, Lois – was it really worth it ?”. Timely then, perhaps, that I address a couple of questions we ALWAYS get asked when discussion comes around to why we shipped our vehicle from North America to Australia.
Here, 4 large RoRo ships unloading on the day we picked up our van in Melbourne.In every port we have ever been in, an escort is required for security reasons – Melbourne is no exception. They were extremely efficient in getting us processed and on our way once the biosecurity checks were done. The Port of Melbourne staff were really excellent.
Other Options
The first question asked ( almost always ) is “Isn’t it expensive?”. Yes, it is. And travelling in a rather large van makes it more so ( an SUV with a rooftop tent – a very common overlanding choice – would cost much less ). Shipping RoRo it’s all about CBM ( cubic metres ) – the higher, longer, and wider your rig is the more you pay. It’s different than a container – if your rig fits in one of those ( our van does not, but our old truck camper did ) the cost is the same no matter how much you can stuff in it. Regardless, the absolute cost is essentially irrelevant- the relevant question is how does the shipping cost compare to the two other options for someone outside Australia planning an extended ( in our case up to 15 months ) trip around Australia and wanting to do it in an off-road capable vehicle with the features we wanted. It’s here that the equation generally still tilts ( usually heavily ) in favour of shipping your own vehicle in and out. Let’s take a look:
Option 1:
“Did you look into renting something ?”. Yes, we really do get asked that ! It’s not that the question itself is illogical ( it isn’t ) but rather the implication that we never thought of it. In short, it would be prohibitively expensive to do that. It’s a practical solution for a short trip ( 1-3 months perhaps ) but beyond that, ( even with a healthy monthly rate discount ) costs just go parabolic. It would be ridiculously expensive to rent a basic car for a year ( just $50/day comes to over $18,000 ) but a heavily customized, near new 4×4 camper would easily be triple that – or more. Driving mostly during “high season” it goes up from there. The very basic motorhomes we travelled with in New Zealand, as a simple guide, rented normally for $550NZ per day during the NZ summer months. Prices in Australia are likely comparable. And those were VERY basic vans. Larger, fully equipped, off road capable 4×4 vans are hard to find. We quickly eliminated renting as an option.There’s also that constant feeling you have when renting that “every extra day is costing me X dollars” causing many travellers to rush or take short cuts. Not what we wanted – we’d prefer to take the big financial hit up front and stay longer without the daily cost anxiety.
Readily available, but expensive to rent and smaller than we wanted – something like this will, however, go absolutely anywhere !!!
Option 2:
“Didn’t you consider buying one and selling it before you left ?”. Absolutely, in fact that is what most people end up doing when they realize the obstacles/cost to bringing in your own vehicle. We have actually done that before ( in Europe ). In 1985 ( in our early 20’s ) we bought an older VW Kombi camper in London, travelled Europe and North Africa for 6 months with it, absolutely loved it, then sold it when our trip was done. We paid £900, did not spend a pound on it, and sold it for €750 at the end. A good deal by any measure !
The orange 1973 VW Kombi we purchased in London, UK in 1985. Our first experience shipping a camper anywhere.
It’s hugely common to do that in Oz as well, and there are companies that will actually sell you a vehicle and guarantee to buy it back off you, usually for about 60% of what you paid if you don’t want the hassle of selling it yourself. Simple, fair and actually pretty easy – when you have a relatively inexpensive vehicle. If you move up to a higher end, fully equipped, late model, custom modified, 4×4 camper, you are looking at a very substantial up front investment and thus a commensurately substantial potential loss on sale. Drop just 10% of the purchase price and you are easily looking at a $15-20,000 +loss, in addition to having substantial capital tied up in your Aussie vehicle while you likely have your own vehicle at home depreciating away. And that probable loss assumes you can find a buyer who wants exactly your kind of rig, lives in the city you are trying to sell it in, has the $$ to buy it ( or can finance it ) and wants it right when you plan to sell it. That’s a LOT of stars to align for this to be an effective solution. Get the currency trade wrong and you could easily lose another $10,000 + just on that ( but you might win, too ). Of course you would also need to start thinking about selling it long before you finish travelling with it. Suddenly “buying and selling” ( especially with a higher-end vehicle ) is not as easy or cost effective as you might think. The “Returning to Canada, must sell quick” pitch is not likely to get you top dollar, either ! We thus eliminated the “buying and selling” option almost as quick as the “renting” option.
Ship your own wheels and the world is your oyster !
Further Considerations
Beyond the above analysis, there were several other very relevant reasons why we opted to ship our own vehicle to Oz:
1) We had shipped a vehicle internationally twice before ( Panama-Colombia and Argentina-USA ) and were thus very familiar with the process – this was not our first rodeo. It is not something everyone is comfortable with, and there are risks, but we knew we could live with them.
2) I had put almost a year and a half of blood, sweat and tears into building our rig and was not about to leave it sitting in Canada and then rent/buy another one – quite honestly, it was NEVER going to happen, regardless of how the economic analysis shook out ! It just seemed like the most totally pointless thing to do. For many others this will factor into the analysis as well.
3) Most importantly though, it’s not our plan to just ship it to Australia and ship it right back when we are done. While Covid has taught us all to be flexible in our plans, one can ( and should, I think ) still make plans at least – just be prepared that they may not work out ( been there, done that ! ). Our dream is to continue overlanding after Australia which means travelling through more countries with our van ( ideally via Asia or Africa ). With the world right now in a state of flux ( open warfare in places like Ukraine, Myanmar, and many others ) who knows what way we will take the vehicle back to Canada, but we certainly do hope to travel overland with our van well beyond Australia. Given that is the goal, it’s just totally impractical to either rent, or buy/sell, a 4×4 custom camper everywhere we might go……and that is why no one does.
PART TWO: Is This For Me ?
If you are in the overlanding Australia mindset and still with me, you’ve possibly now convinced yourself ( like we did ) that shipping your vehicle to Australia may be the way to go. Below are some pertinent details from our experience between December, 2022 and March, 2023 using a Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines RoRo ship. We were advised that the cost was the same whether we embarked from Baltimore or Savannah ( we chose Savannah, it was warmer in winter ) and regardless of which East Coast Australian port we disembarked at ( we chose Melbourne simply because it was the first port of call ). Tacoma, Washington was much closer to us ( as a departure port ) but the freight quote was considerably higher and it involved transshipping in Panama ( hence the added risk of theft and damage as our vehicle was moved from one ship to another in Panama ). What we saved departing from Savannah covered the extra driving cost to get to Savannah ( vs Tacoma ) – and we got to see more of the US and Canada.
The Numbers – What It Cost
For those readers who may have wondered out loud, I hope the above analysis makes some meaning of our crazy lives and why we sometimes do the things we do. For those who wondered just what it did cost to ship a 42 cubic metre ( CBM ) vehicle from the East Coast of the USA to the East Coast of Australia, here is our breakdown, rounded off:
Savannah to Melbourne ( incl. port charges in Savannah plus sea freight ): $7300 USD
Shipping insurance : $850 USD
Quarantine /Ag fees in Australia: $390 AUD
Port fees/Inspections/Cleaning/Port transport fees in Melbourne: $1750 AUD
Using an AUD/USD average rate of $0.67 this comes to : $9,585 USD or $13,180 AUD
Other Costs/Matters To Consider
So, not cheap – but it actually does not stop there. One should realistically also add $500-$600+ USD or so for a Carnet ( which is required for Australia) . Exact cost depends on the country of issue and depends on where you are from. There are some costs for getting to the port of embarkation ( fuel/campgrounds/Ubers – we spent almost $800 USD just in fuel to get to Savannah from Kelowna ) and some further costs for waiting in the port of disembarkation when you do NOT have access to your van – hotels, Ubers and eating out certainly add up quickly. We were fortunate to mitigate these latter costs as we had family to stay with part of the time but still ran up a fearsome tally of expenses due to car rental costs, AirBnB’s, hotels and meals out. These latter costs are often not considered but really should be factored in to any equation of cost/benefit of shipping yourself vs other options.
Administrative Considerations
Planning to stay in Oz for a year or more ( which you likely would if contemplating spending this kind of money just getting your vehicle there ! ) ? Unless you are a Kiwi or Australian ( and most folks doing this are not ), you’ll need Long Stay Australian visas ( 600 Class ) which require an application fee, a 20 page on-line application and, in many cases ( such as Lois’s ) a full medical and chest X ray at a designated doctor in your country who charges a fee to do such tests ( it was over $600 Cdn for Lois all in – and she’s healthy ! ), so count on close to $500 USD per person unless you get lucky and can avoid the medical testing requirement. Mind you, one bears these costs no matter what vehicle option you choose. Chancing it with a standard 90 day tourist visa could backfire if the ABF do not extend it – a risk we chose not to take. Our Sprinter van has to ultimately be returned to Canada of course but as we do not plan to return it directly from Australia it’s tough for me to estimate/quote a round trip cost – something less than double the one way cost though is probably fair.
We found the ABF folks ( Australian Border Force ) super easy to deal with and dealt with them twice. Firstly, when Lois entered on her Long Stay visa – we were prepared for questions about proof of funds, how long she intended to stay etc etc, but she was never asked – not even a stamp in the passport these days ! It took just minutes; very slick.
The application process for this visa can take around 90 days ( it took 55 for us ), so apply early. Their website is top notch and keeps you updated re status every step of the way.
Secondly, it was now my turn, as I had to present the vehicle Carnet to the ABF ( which is done just prior to the expected date of arrival of the ship – we had been in Australia for two weeks by this stage ) – it also could not have been easier. The vehicle is in my name so I asked about the extension process, in case one was to be required – no problem, it could be easily extended for another year. I asked what happened if I had to leave the country temporarily without the vehicle ? Also no problem, the Carnet is not linked to one’s passport, just park it securely, off the street and ensure no one drives it. The only requirement is that the vehicle leaves Australia before the Carnet expires. It was “stamped in” in less than 30 minutes and I was on my way. That legal approval to temporarily import the vehicle is then instantly communicated ( on line ) to the port people and quarantine folks so they know that when the cargo arrives (they still need to inspect it), it is legally approved for import. Key point (and this is true of most Australian ports of entry as I understand it ): the ABF folks that process the Carnet are NOT located at ( or even near ) the port. In Melbourne anyway, they are at ABF ( Customs ) House right beside Tullamarine airport. Plan accordingly. The fellow was super friendly, and no fee was charged. Emails and calls were promptly returned. At this point everything was just running soooooo smoothly.
Counter foil from Carnet, stamped “in” to Australia on the left. I’ll require a stamp “out” on the right when it leaves.
If this all sounds too easy and you figured the hammer was yet to drop, you’d be right. As you can see above the Carnet was stamped on Feb 6 and on that day we expected the ship to unload Feb 7 ( which was already much later than it’s originally scheduled arrival date of January 28 ). Here I’ll cut a long story very short – it sat out in Bass Strait for over 3 more weeks, finally unloading in early March with the unloading date pushed back on at least 6 or 7 different occasions. The wait to get it off the ship and just onto the port was excruciating. The physical vehicle inspection process ( by Quarantine ) was also very stressful – no other way to put it. Our vehicle had been thoroughly cleaned ( and fumigated ) in Savannah but despite that we’d been warned ( many times in fact ) that it would almost certainly require additional washing on arrival. It did, so that held things up further as did the fact that the Quarantine folks insisted on us completing a Form B534 ( Statement of Unaccompanied Goods ). The ABF folks had not mentioned this when I delivered them the Carnet ( which in any case already states that the vehicle contains camping goods and other effects ) so it appears that when the vehicle details where uploaded by the ABF to the Quarantine folks, no mention was made of the fact that it was full of all our gear. Quarantine were thus surprised to find so much inside the van. It was then that they asked for the B534 ( which we completed and returned within the hour ), but as a result they wanted a FURTHER inspection of all said contents ( presumably to be able to match what we said was in it with what they actually found in it ). That second inspection took another 3 days to arrange. I’ll save detailing the really stressful next part in the process because in the end it all worked out ok – the vehicle was washed at the port, reinspected, and finally approved for release March 9 – the next day we had it in our possession. Key point, best to come prepared with the B534 whether you are asked for it or not and be prepared to list ( in detail ) all contents of your vehicle. It’s just the way it is. We’ve crossed probably 35 land borders with a camping vehicle full of stuff and made 2 major ocean crossings ( and many shorter international sea crossings ) and never been asked for such detail or any declaration in advance. Just save yourself the trouble and prepare it in case ! It’s important to get your vehicle cleared and off the port quickly because storage charges ( beyond the 3 or 4 free days ) are horrendous – do all you can to make this part move quickly !
Sea-Bridge, a German outfit, have shipped more than 10,000 campers and vans abroad in the past 25 years and are quite expert at this ( we used them in Argentina ). For a period they were not even accepting bookings to Australia/NZ due to significant delays /costs. They are shipping to Australia again now, but their website still shows this warning.Excuse the pun but quarantine can be this “sticky” – their own website describes the purpose built probes they use ( some with tape on the end ) to find and identify biosecurity risks in generally very inaccessible places. They are good at what they do and are very thorough…!
Insurance
While no one asked for proof of it at any point during the temporary importation of our van, Australian law ( like most countries ) requires that a vehicle have minimum 3rd party liability insurance. I can’t imagine anyone even thinking of driving without it. That is fairly easy to get in Australia ( Shannon’s Insurance were willing to do it for us ) but getting Comprehensive insurance for a foreign vehicle temporarily imported to Australia was MUCH more challenging. Most places we called ( and we called lots ! ) denied it to us since our vehicle either was not registered in an Australian state, or the exact model of our van could not be found on the Australian vehicle database. No match ? No deal ! The very same Sprinter that comes out of the German factory in Duesseldorf is classified by wheelbase in North America ( 144/170 ) but differently everywhere else in the world ( 416, 516 etc ). Ultimately we insured ours with a boutique insurer – KT Insurance – they were excellent to deal with. About 40% more than I pay in Canada but I thought that was reasonable given my other options ( none ! ) and the fact that our situation is a bit, err, “unique” ! I was honestly expecting worse. If your vehicle is more “truck/utility-like” and a 4×4, “Club 4×4” will do it. Ours was too “RV- like”. NRMA in NSW may have done it so they are worth approaching if you come in through NSW ( Port Kembla ). At least they did not flat out decline us like many others.
For those overlanders seriously contemplating shipping to Australia, I’d be happy to share more details of our experience. Contact me through the website at [email protected]. We have learned a tremendous amount in this process and it would be a shame for all those learnings to go to waste. The quarantine side of the experience is BY FAR the most challenging part ( and probably the reason many people who overland other countries baulk at shipping to Australia )- do not underestimate how seriously the Quarantine folks take their mission, it is unlike anywhere else in the world with the possible exception of New Zealand. It’s not just me emphasizing that- shippers will ALL tell you that ( my own shipper did ), as will anyone who has done it and posts on various overlanding FB groups will bear it out. The recent finding of harmful Asian snails on a shipment of new Chinese cars has caused many more vehicles to be inspected, and this has caused the port unloading backlogs that we were caught up in, so part of our delay may have just been unfortunate timing. The process I have described above likely won’t change but at some point the serious backlogs they are facing now will clear up. Check with your shipper in advance of your proposed departure so you can better manage your delivery expectations – good luck !
Leaving the Port of Melbourne – on this happy day it just all seemed suddenly very worthwhile !
Hope this helps answer some readers questions, and for those overlanders looking to do this I hope it helps in your considerations. As for the “Jeff/Lois, was it really all worth it ?” question, we are very confident that by the time we leave my amazing homeland, having explored it thoroughly, the answer will be a resounding “Yes !” – you can count on a full and detailed analysis of that when we get to that point. For now, we have a lot of country to explore.
Forgive me borrowing this week’s banner from the classic Peaches and Herb song, but after 84 days apart ( we last saw our rig on December 14 in Savannah), over a month of which the Talisman sat just waiting in Bass Strait, and an at times traumatic experience getting through quarantine, our Sprinter was finally delivered to us on Friday, March 10 at the MIRRAT terminal ( for RoRo ships ) here at the Port of Melbourne. Hallelujah!!!!! To say we were overjoyed after such a long (and at times very tense) wait would be an understatement – we were deliriously happy to at last have our van and thus our travelling independence back !
A view of the Port of Melbourne. Nice to be on the inside looking out after so long on the outside looking in !
Reinstalling the Canadian licence plates on our van which we had carried with us on the plane. A favourite target of port souvenir hunters and VERY difficult to replace in Australia !!!
The good news ( and it’s mostly very, very good news ) was that the van itself was in great shape outside – no obvious nicks, scratches, bumps or bruises . I say that because the “Port to Port” insurance policy that we had purchased specifically excluded coverage for any such minor issues and they are unfortunately quite common. So it was nice to escape that. The van started immediately, ran well and seemed to have lots of battery charge in it which, of course is another concern after such a long time of inactivity.
The not so good news ( in the scheme of things, not so horrendous but something that is always a huge risk on any RoRo passage ) – things were stolen from inside the van and it was obvious that the thief/thieves knew where to look. I had designed an impenetrable barrier to the garage area of the van where most ( larger ) valuables were kept so that saved us a larger loss, but the lock to the seat of our sofa (which was where we kept the smaller things we could not carry on the plane ) was bypassed when the intruders simply lifted the whole top of the seat frame ( by force ) and plundered what was in there. Frustrating, since we now need to deal with a claim and try to itemize everything that has disappeared ( easier said than done).
Mirren, from the Port of Melbourne ( Mirrat ), came to document the loss/slight damage inside the vehicle. The staff were very timely and organized. She mentioned that such issues with campervan contents are not uncommon.
For all that, we are just glad to be mobile again and nothing was taken that prevents us travelling or that cannot ( fairly easily ) be replaced here – we are very thankful for that. We thought back to a Swiss couple we met back in Argentina whose van travelled from Europe to Montevideo, Uruguay by RoRo ship. Their skylight was smashed to gain entry – the damaged skylight itself made travel difficult and was very hard ( and very expensive ) to replace in South America, in addition to some more significant valuables that disappeared as well.
So as not to make this an interminably long blog ( nor to take away from the overall feeling of delirious happiness we feel !!) I’ll document the final stage of the shipping saga next week (possibly in a dedicated edition ) for the benefit of those overlanders following our shipping experience to Melbourne ( and/or for those readers simply interested in the minutiae of the process ! ).
Leaving the Port of Melbourne – we had waited a long time for this moment !
The port collection process was very easy and ( apart from the time needed for the port staff to witness the loss ) quite fast – staff were super friendly and sympathetic especially knowing how long we had been waiting. With the van in our possession ( and constant reminders from Lois to “stay left” ) we drove off port, over the giant Westgate bridge and on to Maribyrnong (a suburb of Melbourne). A pit stop at Aldi to stock the van with groceries, then another stop to fill it with diesel after which we drove straight to the home of Darryn (my nephew) and Rebecca, where we were delighted to be able to park up in front of their house so we could unpack, clean and repack as well as make some electrical modications necessary for us to be able to charge the camper batteries on the Australian 240v system. Darryn’s an electrician – which helped immensely !
So much to buy when starting with a completely empty kitchen and fridge ! Lois at Aldi, Maribyrnong.Parked in front of Darren and Rebecca’s house – let the repacking begin !
Both Lois and I are so thrilled to close off this week’s blog with such great news – there were honestly days when we questioned it would ever come ( but you know what they say – “Good things come to those who wait” ). I have included a few pics below of some travels we did in our last few days in Forbes and Temora, and of the journey from there back to Melbourne; those early days of the week seem almost forgotten given the excitement of Friday.
We now look forward to a couple of days in Melbourne to get settled into the van and then to finally, finally getting on the road again – a huge thanks to our family and friends who helped us so much along the way and especially to Kristy, the most patient and helpful shipping agent we have ever known !!!!
Our final local exploration trip from our Forbes “base”. Wonderful to explore so many small towns during our “wait” time, places I knew of but had not visited in so many years.Lois enjoying the “crafty” stores in MillthorpeInterestingly named Millthorpe winery.Another example of silo art, this one at Yerong Creek en route to Melbourne.The mythical “Ettamogah Pub” a famous Aussie institution ( near Albury ).Our feature picture this week- so happy to finally be settled in Melbourne, WITH our rig !
While we have patiently continued the waiting game in Temora, there has been some progress with our ship – read Postscript: Shipping Update ( at the end of the blog ) for the gripping details. Other than that, a pretty short blog along with a very slight change of location.
We have, of late, been very fortunate ( and extremely delighted ) to be able to spend more time with family so we split this week between Temora ( my brother ) and Forbes ( my sister ). The communities are very close by so it’s easy to get from one to the other – passing the quaint town of Grenfell on the way we checked out what would become the first of (what should be ) many examples of unique “silo art” in NSW and Victoria. The images below show what else we have been up to.
Lois enjoying a little pool time in Temora – perfect on 30 degree days ( 86F).Delicious Aussie scones and tea with my brother and his wife and the neighbours (all aviation enthusiasts of course ).One of the guests for scones owned this unique plane, a TransAvia crop sprayer ( one of just a few left in the world ). Known as an AirTruck, it’s practical but does not win any prize for aesthetics !
Through the week we took the opportunity to travel to a couple of nearby communities, Junee and Cootamundra to take in some local attractions. Junee is renowned for its chocolate factory ( yes, we just seem to keep finding them ! ) and Cootamundra for both the Australian Test Cricket Captain’s Walk and, perhaps more famously, as the birthplace of Sir Donald Bradman – THE most legendary cricket player of all time. In more global terms, Bradman is to cricket as Babe Ruth is to baseball or perhaps Pele is to soccer – an icon in the annals of the sport, idolized by cricket fans all over the cricket playing world. His childhood home is the attraction and has been tastefully converted to a museum honoring his life. Very impressive !
Grenfell’s colorful silo art. There are now many of these that make a tourist “silo trail” across much of Australia. Thanks for the book, Anne, we look forward to seeing many more !Henry Lawson, a very famous Australian poet, hails from Grenfell, probably its most famous son. Memorialized on a bench in the town.Sir Donald’s childhood home ( now a “shrine” to the great man himself ).Inside the museum.A bust of every Australian cricket captain is placed on a walking path in Cootamundra. The most famous one is below !Don Bradman himself.The Chocolate Factory – from outsideThe Chocolate Factory is a local success story, having been created from the remnants of an old flour mill. It’s now a major employer in the town – and the chocolate is excellent !
Postscript: Shipping Update
Mixed news ( at best ).
The good first. Our vehicle is finally off the ship and on the port in Melbourne. That’s far more exciting than you might imagine given we have watched it float on a car carrier in Bass Strait for a month..! Now the bad. It has been inspected and, as we had been told to expect ( by EVERYONE ! ) it did not pass the initial rigorous quarantine inspection. To put this in perspective, a month or so back some new cars that arrived on a ship from China were shipped right back to China because they did not pass – yes, NEW cars ! Vehicles that fail ( our shipper advised that was 98% of anything used ) usually go off port to a Quarantine Dept approved wash bay but that has not happened because there was some confusion over the fact that our van contained personal effects ( it’s full of them obviously, as with any overlander’s camping vehicle ). As such they called for a “re-inspection” of those goods which has set us back further. Frustrating ! More details on that as it unfolds next week.
As an aside, it has now been almost 11 weeks since we left our van on the dock in Savannah, 5 weeks since the ship arrived just offshore of Melbourne, and almost a week since it was offloaded at the port. It all seems to have taken sooooooo long. Our plans for Tasmania (the booking was made 7 months ago) have been cancelled since we were not able to make the initially scheduled departure date ( Feb 28 ), nor even the revised date ( March 3 ). Incredibly disappointing. Hard to make firm plans for anywhere else until we get our rig. Sigh…………
Given the extraordinary delays in unloading the Talisman I decided to research what was happening in the nation’s ports – I came across an online article that pretty well spelled it all out ( see the link to it in the Postscript: Shipping Update section at the end of this blog). It’s a short but instructive read on exactly why we are caught up in this incredibly frustrating situation.
Melbourne’s notoriously fickle weather had been typically changeable this past week as we looked around the area for things to do to. Fortunately it had been mostly fine (changing really only from good to excellent), so on that front we’ve had little to complain about. Lots of days in the 30’s ( with one nudging 40 ) so it was nice to have a pool given the higher temperatures. Not as nice as our beach-side AirBnB, but “any port in a storm” as the saying goes ( can’t believe I’m now making “port” jokes about this train wreck of an unloading experience ). With our AirBnB available again by the end of last week we happily made the move back to Aspendale. Not only is it a very nice spot but we could actually look into the bay and see the comings and goings of all the marine traffic in Port Phillip Bay – one of these days the name on the ship passing by must surely be “Talisman” !
After a few days back in Aspendale ( which included a beach closure due to a shark sighting and some wonderful travels into the nearby Dandenong Ranges ) news reached us that the unloading of our van had been even further delayed. At this point the decision was made to employ a little “reverse psychology”. Staying in Melbourne and patiently waiting ( for over 2 weeks ) had not served us well so we packed up, grabbed a rental car, and drove back to Temora – surely, we thought, as soon as we leave Melbourne there’d be some movement at the port !
Near Olinda, Dandenong RangeWhite cockatoos, Dandenong Range.Sir Paz Winery, Yarra ValleySir Paz Winery.We enjoyed wine tasting here complemented with a delicious brick oven pizza. A nice view to enjoy while preparing the crust.Wandering the vines, Sir Paz.Shiraz grapes, Sir Paz.Hugely popular with Melbournians, the chocolate (and ice cream) at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie was divine. The place was absolutely packed – we could see why. View from the Chocolaterie.You could watch the chocolate making process and learn a bit of the history of chocolate.On this particular day Aspendale beach was packed and lots of young kids were doing surf life saver training. Within an hour the beach was empty as a result of a shark sighting !The shark was sighted just in front of the Aspendale Surf Club. Caught this clip on our TV as we went back home.Turned out to be a “Blue” shark, not usually dangerous, but a frightening thing to bump into if you were in the water ( the fin looked just like all other sharks !!!! )Lois had asked if sharks could come in this close – the beach is very shallow as you can see. “Unlikely”, I answered.A beautiful sunset on our last night in Melbourne ( for now anyway ! )
Little did we know that in addition to spending some more quality time with my brother, Ian and his wife, Anne that there’d be even more aviation joy ahead while in Temora ( hard to top the Spitfire’s we saw flying around during our last pit stop here ). Their immediate neighbour at the Airpark ( Nick ) owned an F1 Rocket experimental plane and invited both Lois and I up for a couple of aerobatic flights. To say it was the thrill of a lifetime would be an understatement. Absolutely stunning to experience rolls and loops with an unforgettable view of Temora from 1,400 metres, inverted, flying at 400km/h and experiencing 4G forces while entering and exiting the loops ! A few images below and a great video of what a loop looks like in an acrobatic plane:
Rocket F1 planeIn the air with Nick piloting.Sign in Nick’s hangar – and his plane goes faster than that !
Lois, in the Rocket F1 doing a 360 degree roll.
Lois, doing a loop…….inverted, at 400km/h, over Temora.
Now I can’t imagine anything that could top the experience of flying upside down and doing rolls and loops at 400km/h on a perfect Temora day. Well, there is one thing…..getting the keys to our rig next week (fingers crossed ). Stay tuned, and wish us luck !
Postscript: Shipping Update
The article referred to it as “A Total Ship Show”. Two weeks back, Josh Dowling of drive.com.au ( one of Australia’s most widely read motoring sites ) completed an investigation into the ever-increasing delays of new car deliveries into Australia ( our van is caught up in all this). If we needed to better understand why we are where we are then we got our answer in that article. Actually, there was more than one article – another here ( and at least one TV spot ) addressing the issue of long delays in Australian ports. If you’re interested in reading about any of it, take a look at either article. They certainly explained a lot of things for us.
In the first few days of the week ( we follow port traffic updates regularly ) the news went from bad to worse until late in the week we saw, for the first time in almost a month, that the Talisman had finally moved from Bass Strait and into Port Phillip Bay and simultaneously the Port Scheduling app showed that it’s “berthing” was being prepared. Hallelujah ! After the delays we had endured this was indeed great news. By week’s end the unloading was near complete. Next step will be an inspection by the quarantine folks on Monday at which point they decide whether our vehicle is clean enough ( so we get the keys and can take it ) or if it requires further cleaning and thus needs to be trucked to a certified offsite washbay before re-inspection by the quarantine folks. Let’s hope we have it all done by the next blog !
We looked at the app to see that finally our ship was inside the bay and heading to the dock, getting ready to berth. It has been such a loooong wait.A day we had been dreaming of for almost a month – the Talisman finally berthing in Melbourne.As the Talisman finally berthed in Melbourne, (almost a month after it arrived off the Australian coast) we began to think that there might at last be light at the end of the tunnel. Still some major steps before we get our hands on the vehicle, but it just might be (as Churchill famously said) at least the “end of the beginning” of this long, drawn out process of getting back in our rig !
To be honest, we’d been more than just a little disheartened this past week after the ongoing unloading delay outlined in the last blog ( I dare not even mention the “s” word – we just call it a “transportation delay” now, it’s so depressing ). It’s typical when things go wrong on the road to start feeling sorry for yourself ( and we certainly did some of that ) but there’s nothing Iike a truly traumatic event ( or two ) somewhere else to put your problems in context. The tragic Turkish earthquake and terrible New Zealand cyclones this past week really have put things in perspective ( those and a litany of other problems around the globe ). Reality check time – our problems are actually truly trivial.
Map showing Mornington Peninsular map ( relative to Melbourne ). Phillip Island is the “island” just to the bottom right, connected now by a short bridge to the mainland.
“Seven miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care” was an old marketing slogan used for years by the Manly ferry to draw visitors across Sydney harbour to Manly’s beautiful seaside beach. I was reminded of it as we used the past week to explore the beautiful Mornington Peninsula, which is ( in some ways at least ) to Melbourne what Manly and its surrounding beaches are to Sydney – for many, a nearby escape from the hustle and bustle of big city life.
Exploration of the Mornington Peninsula ( and nearby Phillip Island ) was in our plans with our van, but in the circumstances ( no van ) we decided to simply explorewithout it. A couple of judiciously timed car rentals and some long walks allowed us to explore the area quite extensively in the end. Having moved away from the seaside and further down the peninsula, it seemed Frankston was a good place to start since it was close by. While I would not call the city itself a holiday destination ( the good stuff is further down ) the sculptures and murals for which it is renowned (among other things) are worth a look as one passes through.
Frankston muralFrankston muralFrankston mural.And one of the rather eclectic sculptures in Frankston…!
Further down the coastline it gets more interesting and we really enjoyed the scenic beaches, the Bass Strait coast, the many hikes and walks as well as the sighting of much more fauna than we had expected. There’s also a great deal of history in the area, some of which dates to the very earliest days of Victoria as a British colony ( “Australia” as a country was far off in those early days ).
Historic buildings, Sorrento.Smack bang in the middle of the otherwise very flat Mornington Peninsula sits a rather abruptly positioned outcrop known as Arthur’s Seat. You can drive, or “gondola”, up for some pretty amazing coastal views.The coastal walks were very impressive with lots of points of historical significance. The area was some of the earliest settled when the British first came to Australia. A windy day though !Valentines Day 🙂 – Point Nepean beach.Lois, Point Nepean beach.Part of the coastal walk system near Point Nepean – steep in places !An oceanside beach, Mornington ( they refer to them locally as “back” beaches versus the much calmer “bay” beaches inside Port Phillip Bay).Sorrento cafe – Melbourne’s cafe culture seems to extend down to Mornington ( they are everywhere ). Lois loves sampling coffee, especially the cappuccinos!Approaching the National Park ( and on nearby Phillip Island), signs caution drivers to watch for local wildlife, these four types in particular- we saw many wallabies and one echidna ( only two out of the four) 🙁On the drive out the Pyramind Rock there were lots of wallabies around. Much smaller than a kangaroo but otherwise broadly similar to the untrained eye.An echidna – unlike a porcupine ( to which they are sometimes compared ) the echidna cannot eject its spines.I’d actually forgotten, until we drove right by it, that Phillip Island ( just off the Mornington Peninsula ) was home to a Grand Prix circuit ( mostly for motor cycles but cars race there too ). Motorcycles were practicing while we were there- loud !
While Phillip Island has many attractions, undoubtedly one of its most well-known is the Parade of Penguins. The picture below shows exactly what they look like when they emerge from the sea. It’s hilarious to watch them waddle out, waddle back in, and then waddle out again before summoning the courage to eventually cross the beach ( where the risk from predators is highest ).
Little penguins coming ashore, Phillip Island (picture courtesy of Parade of Penguins website – no visitor photography allowed after sunset !)
We were not allowed to shoot pictures or video of the penguins after sunset ( which is when they waddle ashore ) but peeled this video off YouTube to show what the experience was like. Very impressive…!We managed just one picture of a penguin in its nest while there was enough light. No pics allowed after sunset.
Technical sidebar: ( a read only relevant to those with an inquiring electrical mind ! )
In the expectation that we should ( hopefully ) soon be reunited with our vehicle it only made sense to use some of this enforced downtime to get as much done as we could in advance of it being released. One of those things was to solve the issue of charging the vehicle’s leisure batteries from an Australian mains/household supply. Not an issue when we are driving ( charge comes via the vehicle alternator and onboard 40 amp DCDC charger ), nor when we are stationary on a sunny day ( 700 watts of rooftop solar and 300 watts of external solar should do it ) however there will be times when one ( or both ) of those options is not available and we need to “plug in”. Not a problem in our 120v AC world ( US/Canada/Central America and parts of South America ) but in Australia ( as in most of the rest of the world ) it’s all 240v AC. What to do ? There are really only 3 options: A) do without the plug in option, B) get a step up/step down converter, or C) get a 240v (input) charger that will tide us over while in Australia. Doing without was not a viable option. The step up/step down converter, while giving us “constant” AC power, would have to be very big, very expensive and very heavy to handle the draw of several of our appliances so was also ruled out. A local ( lithium compatible ) charger with 240v input was sourced, with the bonus being it was a Victron unit and thus compatible with the whole electrical system we have. Many thanks to Paul at Retropower in Clayton ( Vic.) who not only provided us a new 25amp Victron unit, he delivered it right to us ( service with a smile ) ! So, while we will never be “plugged in” in the strict sense of the word, when we do have access to 240v AC power, the 25amp charger will keep our batteries topped up sufficiently to match/(or limit ) the battery drain from the fridge, cooktop etc. via our inverter – hopefully anyway !
In anticipation that the van will arrive ( someday ! ), we sourced a secondary 25amp Lithium battery charger that will run off the Australian 240v AC system. The one in the van of course, is 120v AC.
Postscript: Shipping Update
Back in August, 2022 when we pre-booked the ferry from Melbourne to Tasmania, we had hoped to get a nice short connection with the ferry from Melbourne to Tasmania. The Talisman from the US was scheduled to arrive in Melbourne on January 25 and we could not get confirmed ferry passage on to Tasmania until Feb 28. That left us an awkward month in between where we could not ( effectively ) roam too far from Melbourne. Never, not in our wildest dreams, did we anticipate things would be so delayed with unloading the Talisman that it would potentially jeopardize us actually being able to make that Feb 28 departure date for the Melbourne to Tasmania ferry ! Sadly, that is now exactly where we stand. Unless we have a very speedy customs/quarantine clearance at the Port of Melbourne next week it could be a “salt into the wound” experience – getting out of Melbourne port too late to catch the ferry to “ Tassie”. For over-height vehicles like ours changing the dates ( out and back ) is next to impossible. So, very nervously, we just continue to wait……..and wait.
Current status of the Talisman for unloading. It’s literally been one step forward and then two steps back all week. Feb 20 is the new projected unloading date now 🙁That’s it…..tantalizingly just offshore. Actually visible a few days ago when we walked the headland on the Bass Strait side of the Mornington peninsula.
We are Lois and Jeff, of Kelowna, BC, Canada. Recently retired with a serious overlanding travel bug, we hit the road in our truck camper in May 2019, initially tackling the Pan American highway. The PanAm completed in April 2022, and truck camper sold, we plan to continue exploring again later in 2022 in our Sprinter 4×4!
