28th March 2006- Journey to Motueka NZ
Sunday, October 1st, 2006Our ferry was at 7.35am. You might think that’s not too early. But we had to get up extra early so that we have enough time to walk from the hostel to the nearby bus stop (5-10min) , bus to train station (20min), get free shutle from train station to harbour for the ferry (15min). Considering we were each carrying a big pack ,small day sack on the front and a food bag, This journey proved to be much tougher than i imagined it to be.
We’ve got quite a few looks on the bus to the train station, it was during rush hour so naturaly the bus was packed with communters on their way to work. Their monotonous bus journey was rudely interupted by 2 girls with massive backpacks desparately trying to get on the bus. We were holding onto the rails so tight that white knuckles were showing in order to keep our balances. I managed to find a seat but i refused to take my pack off. It’s very hard for me to get it back on once it’s off. So i had to ’sit’ (that term is applied very loosely) with the pack on. The pack is SO huge that it almost took up the entire seat and i was just sorta dangling at the edge. It’s actually quite funny when Laura also ’sat’ beside me in that edge-of-seat position. We must have looked a right pair!!!
The ferry reception operates pretty much the same way as an airport, you get a separate departure /arrival lounge , you need to check your luggages in, a boarding pass is needed in order to get on the ferry. We, being tired out from the pre-ferry bus rides & walk, totally forgot to get our boarding passes. So we had to make a last minute mad-dash to get it all sorted out at the counter when most people were actually boarding the ferry. Oops!
I’m usually quite good on boats. Or so i thought. The sea was so rough that day, the crew had to closed all the open decks to prevent anyone being washed overboard. We were sitting i the senior sections on deck 8 (with large comfy business class type armchairs). The waves were so large that they were hitting out window!!! People were walking zigzag along the corridor in a charlie chaplin fashion! Laura seems fine with the ferry in motion, whereas i was going paler and greener by the minute. The ferry ride was supposed to last for like 2-3 hours , how on earth am i going to survive this ? i asked myself. In the end , i had to give in and took some sea sickness pills which knocked me out for the majority of the 3-hour long journey.
The transfer from the ferry onto Newman coach was relatively easy for the coach was conviniently parked right by the harbour. We eventually arrive at Motueka late afternoon. The hostel, the laughing kiwis, that we were staying at seems to be full of people with work visa doing apple packing. They’ve been there for weeks so they think they own the place , their attutide towards new comers were cold and unfriendly. The hostel is newly refurbished , spacious rooms nicely decorated with matching curtains and bed furnishings. I particularly like the kitchen and dining table. The table topis made of one complete coss section of a tree , the edge was left in its original state, all the roughness and pattern of the bark was retained. The table legs were made of tree trunks too!! The whole thing is then covered with a lick of wood polish , nice and shiny!! The table can sit up to 10-12 peole so you can imagine how big this tree must be!!
The owner was very helpful. We managed to book the sea kayaking trip at Abel Tasman national park !! Really looking forward to that.
