Tasmania's high-water marks
COASTING across Hobart's deserted five-lane Tasman Bridge late on this Sunday afternoon, I can see the sharply raked bow and racy, elegant lines of my ship, the German-built MV Orion.
The taxi driver has already checked it out earlier in the day. "Mate, she's more mega-yacht than cruise ship, especially compared to that soulless floating block of flats," he says, waving at the gargantuan Sapphire Princess moored on the other side of No.2 Wharf. "They reckon yours has got an ice-strengthened hull, a stabiliser with retractable fins, and bow and stern thrusters for top cruising dexterity," he adds with a boating aficionado's enthusiasm.
I tell him I'm more interested in cold-climate rieslings, Bass Strait's remote islands and indulgent dairy products because I'm accompanying a gourmet food and wine expedition around Tasmania with Serge Dansereau, celebrity consultant executive chef to Orion. Unimpressed, the driver passionately indicates the fleet of two jet-propelled tenders and 10 heavy-duty motorised Zodiac MK5 inflatable boats harnessed around the Orion's decks.plastic hangers therapy helps in relaxing your tired feet. "I'd like to see you drinking chardonnay on one of those," he says, obviously in awe of James Bond-style rubber launches.
I don't pay him or the heavy-duty equipment much heed but a little later, as I explore my stateroom – more luxury hotel suite than cruise liner cabin – a super hi-tech safety harness ("automatic inflation on immersion in water") hits me on the head as I open the cupboard. I feel like a stunt man in an action movie. Is all this really necessary?
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