sitting at the hospital while the physio works with mum -- I have been reading the ferry saga. You know, fiction is more plausible than fact from time to time. The company seems to be, to put it mildly, erratic in reliability. Grin - it's definitely a chapter of disasters that must be bloody unfunny from the inside. We start with not having paid docking fees and not being allowed to dock at Lady Barron - with 200 000 dollars owing. So eventually the company pays up and the ship is allowed in... (with the food on board looking a wee bit dodge by this stage, I'd think.
And the crew and skipper go on strike.
So it's not unloaded. And not coming back until the crew and skipper get paid (which is apparently a little... late)
The MD makes outraged protest that they've been paid -- (if I get this right, by cheque, in the post.) The skipper has stolen his ship! He must be arrested and removed.
So the cops remove the skipper.
Dumb move number 4.
Because the skipper is not signed off, and therefore is still in command of the vessel. Therefore by law the vessel may not sail without his orders...
And there is only one deep water mooring on Flinders. Is this sounding like the wars of roses yet?
So they have to get special permission from the marine authorities to move the vessel...
Another vessel, hired for the rescue effort docks. And the two vessels now are able to go back to Bridport with new crews. And of course the islanders, the Tas transport minister and the company which claims it is not breach are now locked in a bitter feud...
And in the meanwhile on a more personal note... we have not been able to with these paragons of reliability book a vehicle we don't yet have, across. See, they want the make, numberplate and length...