Our last day in the South Island got off to a great start. We woke up to sunshine, a more than welcome change, and savoured a few last, cramped minutes before getting up and getting ready for the ferry at 2:25pm. After we had got ready, and killed as much time as possible, we headed to the same dog park we had visited the night before, although this time the weather was much more park-friendly. Palin tired himself out, then we moved on to the town centre to wander around the shops.
This was never going to take long, as both our money levels and the number of shops were quite low. It wasn’t long before we moved along to the park we had walked Palin shortly after stepping foot on the South Island. In fact we drove there, so it was actually the first place we set foot in the South Island. And it was also to be our last. Not wanting to get on the ferry too early, for Palin’s sake, we hung around the park for some time. We ate our leftover Pizza and drank our leftover coke. Then we enjoyed the sunshine by playing a spot of cricket. Well, it wasn’t so much cricket as throwing and hitting a tennis ball with a cricket bat, but it was the closest thing to cricket I had played since New Years, and I liked it. Time was killed sufficiently, so we made our way to the Interislander check-in.
It was still half an hour before the final check-in, and an hour and a half before the ship would sail, but wanted to find a decent seat so we didn’t have a repeat of the seatless crossing over. Being the third car in the queue, we figured we stood have a pretty good chance. We remained third car in the queue for the next hour as we sat in the truck, in the sun, just wanting to get onboard. There was always that small possibility that the first car in line hadn’t known what to do, so had just stopped and waited for direction. I envisioned a perplexed bunch of workers, further down the track, wondering why there were no cars for them to direct. Eventually we saw the boat arrive, and cars disembarking. At least we weren’t waiting for nothing. As the stream of cars dwindled, our stream began moving. Finally onboard, I noticed we were still third in the queue, meaning we would be third off. Always a good thing. Remembering not to set the alarm this time, I locked the car and we headed upstairs to find the seat we so desperately wanted.
Arahura was the name of our vessel for this crossing, a much older boat than that which we had crossed over on. To be honest, I preferred the layout of this boat, as it felt more like a ferry, and less like a floating mall. There seemed to be a lot more focus on seating, although we were amongst the first few on, so our view may have been skewed. The seats we chose, as we had the pick of the bunch, were in one of the lounges at the front of the boat, next to a window. We occupied two of four swivel seats surrounding a table, so I was worried the other two seats would be filled once the boat filled up. A large majority of the seats were still empty, including the remaining two in our cluster, as the boat started moving and the announcements began. It would seem our fears were completely unfounded, and the trip over was simply an abomination of overcrowding. Our seats were entirely satisfactory for some time, until our neighbours decided to entertain their child by whipping out the portable DVD player and putting on Barney. It wasn’t too intrusive, but that was the problem. The volume was just at that schizophrenic level, where you couldn’t always consciously hear it, but every now and then you’d find yourself tapping along to Old MacDonald had a Farm before you knew what hit you. This continued for most of our travels through Queen Charlotte Sounds, and eventually was too much for us, so we went down the back of the boat to watch as the South Island drifted away into the distance. We returned to the same lounge, but chose different seats. This time we had a screamer, which was far too much to bear so we moved again. A different level was chosen, and we found some new seats by a window. It wasn’t long before we realised we were sitting right next to the children’s corner. Bad choice. Our final seats, after another wander around above deck to observe the approaching capital, were well away from any children. However, we were only there for a short time before the announcement was made to return to our cars.
Rush hour traffic prevented us from having a quick drive to my sister’s place. Around 6pm we arrived and walked straight in, leaving everything but the dog in the car. After hellos, highlights and our first meal of fresh fish in quite some time, we made a home on the couch and settled in for a night of television. Behind us were the days of returning to the truck to squeeze into bed, we looked forward to head room. Thankfully though, Myfanwy and Julian’s guest bed was on a mezzanine, meaning there wasn’t the usual complement of headroom that goes along with an actual room, so we could ease ourselves back into normal life, which waits for us in Auckland at the end of the week.
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