Taking The Ferry Back to the South Island

Just two words about what it's like taking the ferry down to the South Island, versus our prior ride up to the North Island:

It's worse.

It started off nearly the same. Sure, our ship, the Arahura, was quite a bit smaller than the floating city of a ferry that we took on our northbound crossing. But after all, it was a Saturday morning, typically a lighter day for interisland travel. We got in line a bit early, drove up on to the boat, and then parked and locked our car. And just like last time, we found the forward lounge and grabbed a couple of seats where we could have a great view.


However, this is the important part: It's a lot harder on your stomach taking the ferry south than it is taking it north. When you board the northbound ferry (at Picton in the South Island), you will spend the first hour or so of the trip navigating the beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound. The boat hardly feels like it's moving, and everybody's enjoying the amazing view and taking pictures like mad up on the sundeck. You feel like you're riding on glass.

Of course, once you get out onto the open sea the ride gets noticeably rougher. But when you're coming from the South Island, you get this nice, smooth acclimation period of sailing through the sound. You can get used to things.

The problem is this: when you take the southbound ferry out of Wellington, you head immediately out into the open--and sometimes very rough--sea. There's no gentle, gradual acclimation period (with beautiful scenery, no less) at all.

Let's just say we were two queasy landlubbers who were really glad we had taken along our Dramamine.

And don't expect to get any sympathy from a New Zealander about this, either. You'll likely hear their own story about some fearsome ferry trip that they took where the seas were so rough that passengers got thrown to the floor by the heaving ship. It'll make you feel like a complete wimp for whining about your slightly rough ferry ride.



This is our little car, near the front of the line, waiting for the ferry:


More views from the boat:



While on board, we learned about a new drink, Frank's Ginger Beer. It was damn good.


Entering the Queen Charlotte Sound in the South Island:




Passing some speeding locals once we got back on the South Island. There must have been a show of old Model T's going on nearby, because we passed at least half a dozen of cars just like these on our way down the road.

How to Take the New Zealand Interisland Ferry

If you want to get from one island to another in New Zealand you have two options: flying, or the interisland ferry.

Of course, most of the tourists who come all the way to New Zealand have already been on at least one 12-hour flight (if not two), so why not take the ferry and sample one of the most interesting modes of travel available in this country? It's an experience all to itself.

In this post, we'll walk you through our experiences on the Interislander, one of the two major ferry lines that take passengers between the two key islands of New Zealand.

We picked up the northbound ferry in Picton, NZ, on the South Island. It's funny, we had assumed it would be complicated finding out where to be and how everything works, but the entire process was laughably easy. We just drove down the hill into town and it became painfully obvious where we were supposed to be.

You could see the cars and campers driving off of one of the ferries that had already arrived:


We had reserved passage on the 12:15 ferry about two or three days beforehand. You can get your tickets over the internet or by phone, and it's quite easy. One-way passage for the both of us, with a compact-sized car, cost NZ$245 (about US$140). The entire voyage takes about three hours.

Once you arrive at the terminal, note which of the two ferries you've booked. We inadvertently got in the line for the Bluebridge line, but it was no matter: the woman in the ticket booth cheerily told us where we needed to be.

You wait in a line on land for a bit while your ferry unloads its passengers from the other island, and then it's time to go. After a few uneasy jokes about Gilligan's Island and "a three hour tour," we followed the cars in front of us up a steep ramp right onto the boat.


After being repeatedly told to be sure our car was in in gear or in park, we locked up and walked up onto the passenger decks for the voyage. Here's one of the ferry employees checking our car before we went upstairs:


Note that both driving tourists and walking tourists can take the ferry. The cost is quite a bit cheaper as a pedestrian without a car, ranging from only NZ$50 to NZ$70 (about US$30 to US$40).

But heck, you don't even have to be a human to take the ferry--there were sheep traveling with us too. I'm sure they got a great group rate.


Once we left our car below, the fun really began. This ship is almost like a city on the water. It has cafes, a restaurant, a movie theater, a game room, a bar, and plenty of other of places to explore.

I took the liberty of asking an employee in one of the cafes where he thought was the best place to be on the ship. He told me that if I wanted the best seats in the house, head up to deck seven, the forward lounge, and grab one of the seats near the front windows. He was right: we had an amazing view of the entire journey.

If there are two or more of you in your party, leave one person sitting down in the forward lounge and take turns up on the sun deck. You can enjoy striking views as you exit the protective sound of the South Island and enter the Cook Strait.




Here's the boundary of the the Cook Strait. From here on, you'll be travelling on open water. Be sure to take your Dramamine...


I mentioned the sun deck, up on Deck 10. When we departed from the South Island, it was crawling with sun worshippers.


But as we approached Wellington, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. One by one, everybody started to come inside. I made the mistake of venturing up there late in our voyage as we were getting close to Wellington, and the 100+mph wind almost blew me right off the ship. It was impossible to walk around up there.

This was also about the same time when the ship started to heave up and down a bit. It wasn't terrible, but we were glad we both took a little something for motion sickness (we split a Dramamine pill between us).

It wouldn't be long before Wellington loomed in the forward lounge windows.


Soon enough, we'd head down to the car deck, get back in our car, and drive off onto dry land once again.


The Interislander Ferry
Phone: 0800 802 802 (New Zealand only)
Phone (from overseas): 64 4 498 3302
Email: info@interislander.co.nz

The Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferry
Phone: 0800 844 844 (New Zealand only)
Phone (from overseas): 64 4 471 6188
Email: bookings@bluebridge.co.nz