PASSENGERS STRANDED AS FERRY FAILS AGAIN
ARCHITECT and saxophonist Robert Goldsmith came prepared for the Interislander ferries’ latest failure – he and his party brought their own boat with them.
The family from London were among about 600 people booked to cross Cook Strait on Kaitaki at 8.30am yesterday who were delayed for more than four hours by a bow door problem.
The hitch occurred on one of the ferries’ busiest days of the year, on what was for many travellers the last weekend of the school holidays. It left more than 1000 people stranded in both Wellington and Picton.
Goldsmith, with wife Mandy, son Robert and daughter Kathleen, arrived at the wharf at 7am with their boat and finally sailed at 12.45pm, prompting him to suggest the time had come for KiwiRail to flog off its ferry company.
‘‘We’re in the country for four weeks. We’re hoping we won’t be in this queue for four weeks,’’ he said.
‘‘We brought our own boat just in case,’’ he joked as he entertained other would-be travellers in the car queue with his one-liners and his tunes.
The delay left them spending much of the morning on the phone, trying to arrange alterna- tive accommodation near Abel Tasman National Park last night.
They had been planning to make high tide at Awaroa about 8 o’clock last night to launch their boat.
‘‘We won’t be doing that now. We’re looking for a room in the Heartbreak Hotel right now. I haven’t found a new place to dwell.’’
Others stuck at the wharf included Maurice Smith, who was among a group waiting to travel with their horses. They were put on to the Arahura, which left Wellington at 11am for Picton, about 75 minutes before Kaitaki.
Goldsmith, who plays sax in a London band called The Estimators, added: ‘‘We love New Zea- land. It’s a shame the umbilical cord of the nation’s transport system has been prematurely severed. This baby clearly needs an intensive sea section urgently.
‘‘This Cook Strait service should be the Rolls-Royce of the transport system here. It’s a Trabant service from what I can see.’’
In Picton, passengers awaiting the scheduled 1.15pm sailing for Wellington finally got away after 5pm.
During the Wellington delay, engineers were seen working on getting an internal bow door to open and close properly. KiwiRail did not respond to a request for comment.