Strait, Sounds, and Fog: Riding a Ferry on the 8th Continent
The Cook Strait–where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean–is dangerous and unpredictable water. The Marlborough Sounds are a range of sunken mountains and drowned valleys. And low clouds can obscure everything but the ferry you’re on. This is the story of a ride on the Interislander Ferry, which like a 60-mile calligrapher’s flourish, connects New Zealand’s North and South Islands at Wellington and Picton in 3.5 hours.
We were on the Kaitaki, a large ferry that carried more than a thousand people and their cars, semi-trucks, and cargo. And yet, we were merely a speck…a dot on the fringes of the Pacific Ocean. I stood on the back of the ferry, looking for albatross, dolphins, and whales who are said to sometimes accompany the ferry across. It was windy out there. And I found myself staring at the wide track we made in the water, a swath of lighter blue, visible behind us for what seemed like miles.
The fog started like a couple of dandelion puffs floating on the sea. But the wisps got bigger, thicker, now like cotton balls pulled open beside us, and then a wall of thick gray, dead ahead. The ferry entered, there was a mist, and the view all around the boat disappeared as the fog closed up behind us. Surrounded. No view in any direction. Just a quiet cloud, and tiny droplets of rain shimmering in a diffused light. The fog horn sounded. We did not slow down. The ferry was conducting a safety drill, and made an announcement to “abandon ship”. Passengers out on the deck braving the mist and no view, smiled at each other…and took glances up at the lifeboats, just to be sure. Mysterious. Vulnerable. Peaceful. The ship moved on.
And then it was behind us. We sailed through into blue skies and blue water, and in the distance a wall of green mountains. How did anyone ever find these channels, these sounds, these passageways that brought their ships into safe water? How did they trust to keep going in thick fog? We learned that this space on earth is in fact a continent, the 8th continent and 93% under water. Zealandia it is called. A vast continental plate that was submerged millions of years ago. Today, the steep mountains reach suddenly out of the sea. And our ferry follows an unseen path between them, up through this former river of Zealandia, finding our way to land.
If you are going to the 8th continent (aka New Zealand), we have unused ferry/bus pass hours for two people that we need to sell. We have 17 hours each for 2 people, ($260 value). We’re selling the hours for $200. Payment can be made via Paypal, and with a quick name transfer at InterCity.co.nz, the passes will be yours. Travel has to be completed by January 5, 2019. Comment or message me if you’re interested.
Read more about New Zealand here: our stay in AUCKLAND and riding on the NORTHERN EXPLORER TRAIN. Select photos are available on MY ETSY SITE.
On the soundtrack:
“Everybody says that the living is easy
I can barely see cause my head’s in the way
Tigers walk behind me, they are to remind me that
I’m lost, but I’m not afraid
Soul to soul, A kiss and a sigh
Sawed in half, by the passage of time
Halfway home, from a window you see
Chains and bars, but I am still free”
