WTF: Spirit of Scotland, Barrabool Rd bank up, Geelong council cans coffee

This week’s edition of WTF looks at a surprise Spirit of Tassie sighting for some local travellers, confusion for Barwon Heads Rd motorists, a Barrabool Rd bank-up of epic proportions, and City Hall’s canning of coffee.

WTF: 28/03/2025

They’re the little – and sometimes not so little – things that can really irk us. We’ve asked the people of Geelong to point out the problems that irritate and exasperate and have us all saying, woah, that’s frustrating!

SPIRIT OF SCOTLAND

The Spirit of Tasmania has been spotted in Edinburgh by Australian visitors.

Two Geelong travellers have come face-to-face with one of Australia’s biggest infrastructure fiascos while sightseeing in the Scottish capital.

Janet Walker and John Manger turned a corner in Edinburgh and were shocked to see the unmistakeable Spirit of Tasmania, with its bold red letters and all.

The pair couldn’t help but laugh at the unexpected reminder of home.

“She’s a bit off course,” Mr Manger mused to his wife.

“You travel 12,000 miles and what’s the first ship you see?”

The new Spirit of Tasmania IV docked in Edinburgh in early December following a three-and-a-half-day journey from Finland, where it was built by Rauma Marina Constructions.

The weekly cost to taxpayers in the form of docking fees for the Spirit’s Scottish holiday is $47,534 and now the Tasmanian government has instructed state-owned operator TT-Line to “to continue preparations to relocate the vessel to Tasmania”.

The only problem – and massive embarrassment – is that the existing home for Spirit vessels in Devonport is too small for the new fleet, so until the construction of a suitable berth is completed in 2027, the government will have to find somewhere to store it.

A not-so-small problem.

Of course, all this has been incredibly amusing for our Scottish friends, with local media widely reporting the “ferry fiasco”.

WELL, WHICH IS IT?

Speed signs are confusing Barwon Heads Rd motorists and understandably so.

Bellarine residents have become accustomed to a feeling of frustration stemming from constant delays on Barwon Heads Rd as the increasingly busy stretch gets a much-needed modernisation.

Compounding that frustration was an odd sight last week when a concerned commuter couldn’t help but notice a discrepancy between southbound speed signs near the Tannery Rd turn-off in Charlemont.

The western side of the road suggests a conservative 40km/h, while opposite it is the standard 70km/h.

So how fast, or slow, should we be going?

The Department of Transport kindly let us know the 40km/h sign mistakenly remained after roadworks were recently completed.

The good folk at the department swiftly took it down after they were informed of its existence on Monday.

Another win for WTF!

BARRABOOL BANK-UP

Nightmare on Barrabool Rd.

The morning rush can be a pain.

Hordes of people in a hurry to get to work or drop the kids off at school. Or both.

But as far as bumper-to-bumper bank-ups go, this could be the worst we’ve seen in a while.

On Barrabool Rd in Belmont, heading east near the High St intersection, traffic was banked up for a kilometre at one point last week.

A WTF spy spotted the conga line of cars, which went as far as the Barwon Valley Park toilets past Quarry Close.

Some masterful motorists made the savvy choice to head up Riverview Tce to avoid the wait.

We’d like to hope this is as bad is it gets, but, as always, happy to hear from you if we’re wrong.

MORE TABLES, NO DRINKS

An added layer of security has been added to Geelong council meetings, in the form of rectangular tables.

Access to free coffee during drawn-out meetings at City Hall has often been a godsend for WTF’s council-reporting colleagues.

Sure, it was more International Roast than the almond lattes preferred by public servant types, but it was caffeine nonetheless.

So cue the shock on Tuesday night when the hot water urn and Anko cups were nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps the change has something to do with things becoming very serious at City Hall.

Heated back-to-back meetings to end last year and start the current one appear to have prompted a shake-up of security.

A series of A4 sized warnings were unmissable this week.

“PLEASE REMAIN SEATED”

“CHAMBER CAPACITY 100”

“NO RECORDING PERMITTED”

The clear giveaway, however, was the addition of a handful of rectangular tables that separated councillors from the few people who dared to stay beyond public question time.

The beef-up, if you can call it that, comes after several members of the public gallery approached the council bench soon after the controversial Australia Day motion in December.

Starting April 1, WTF will be published online Mondays and in each Tuesday’s newspaper.

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Originally published as WTF: Spirit of Scotland, Barrabool Rd bank up, Geelong council cans coffee