by Pauline Campbell, Portarlington resident, 23rd Jan 2018

I am standing on our balcony looking at this! I missed the spectacle of seeing her sail past but there she is, sitting serenely out there, the very first cruise ship to visit the township of Portarlington, Victoria. Not Geelong – as I heard on the radio (SmoothFM!)

A hint of Melbourne’s skyline for contrast.
Gotta go throw on a frock and head down there for a much closer look. I can do that because I am not in working tour guide mode! However if I spot a microphone……

Naturally I will be having a look tomorrow. As an interested party! Having worked with the various cruise lines over the years, this is not a ship I’m familiar with or have worked with as a professional Tour Guide over the last 15 years.

It is an exciting time for the town.

Over 2000 plus passengers. With the ferry there, I am sure there will be photo opportunities for me to capture some of the excitement. It will be bumper to bumper traffic of all kinds! Geelong was cancelled as an anchor point, something about the lack of depth in the shipping channel to Geelong.

Passengers will be tendered to shore to the recently completed Portarlington Safe Harbour floating berth they have to share in turn with the Ferry.

At the Rockpool cafe at the Pier on the day we chatted with two crew members. One told us he was able to disembark, while his colleagues had to remain on board. He said the passengers came from The USA, Canada, Germany, The UK and Australia.

There is often a moment you wish didn’t happen. I mentioned the kangaroo costume meeting and greeting by the Pier, inviting the passengers arriving on the new Safe Harbour pier for photo opportunities. “That kangaroo is very ordinary.” I said. “Oh… that was me” the young lady smilingly answered, standing with the friendly crew member mentioned previously.

Learn the instant art of backtracking at these moments.

A Canadian woman also spoke to us, asking relevant questions about the local area and City of Melbourne and recommending her home town of Vancouver for a visit.

Visiting the shops in the main street later, all seemed happy with the increased patronage and subsequent sales on the day.

Images by Pauline Campbell

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