The Cook Strait ferry


Another adventure and another blog.  We are off to do the Great Taste Trail.  I did it about four years ago during the height of Covid when we were nicely isolated.  The only people on the trail were NZers and perhaps the occasional Aussie.  When we did it there was no loop (except on a narrow provincial highway with logging trucks and farm trucks to contend with).  A trail has been constructed which provides for a complete loop on a mixture of quiet roads and dedicated trails.  

On this trip I have the addition of electricity to help me along. It will be mainly for the climbing parts of the trail.  This required a different car rack to my usual one so that I could carry the extra weight.  My friend kindly loaned the rack.  He is also joining us for the ride.  

 We were taking the afternoon ferry, Kaiarahi, as I prefer it to the Kaitaki for two reasons.  Firstly  it is more comfortable and there are usually less people on it and secondly it does not take as long to get the car off it.  

The trip over the strait was uneventful with the only annoyances for me being people who insist on watching something on their phones very loudly as if they are the only person in the room.  Bev held me back from going asking the two middle aged men to put in their headphones.  There should be etiquette about phone use.  

It was a long trip for some reason and it was nearly four hours after leaving that we docked for a trip that should have taken about 3 hrs 20 minutes.  Fortunately we were off the ship very quickly.  

 Our Airbnb was on Beach Road in Waikawa near where I grew up.  It was a nice room with everything we needed for one night.  We went to the Jolly Roger for a pub meal.  The fish was snapper but both of us thought that it was less than satisfactory.  I have never been a fan of the species preferring blue cod or tarakihi.  Perhaps there is a better way of preparing it.

We noticed a young woman sitting by herself.  She looked like a tourist so on the way out Bev said something to her.  It led to a longer conversation.  It turned out that she was from Germany and was on a year's break from her job as a specialist in gastroenterology.  She also said she was competent at internal medicine and emergency medicine.  She was travelling around NZ in a campervan and rather enjoying herself.  

We thought she was so interesting that we invited her to have a drink with us back at our accommodation.  It turned out she had been volunteering in The Philippines and it had given her a whole new perspective on the quality of medicine that Germans enjoyed.  It seems their health system is under the same sorts of stresses as New Zealand's.  

It was an enjoyable evening.   

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