Why You Should Never Trust New Zealand Ferries
Adam's New Zealand road trip was flipped on its head when the interisland ferry he'd booked was cancelled. With his travel plans for the North Island effectively erased, and his options even more scarce than a kiwi, he tried every trick in the book to get onto another boat, quickly learning why you should never trust New Zealand ferries. Tune in for this New Zealand nautical nightmare!
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
02:11 - Queen Charlotte Track, Queen Charlotte Sounds
07:14 - Bluebridge Ferry, shattering dreams
19:29 - Part 2: If ferry rides were a rollercoaster!
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TRANSCRIPT:
Alun:
[0:02] Hello and welcome to this episode of Tripology. It's the only backpacking show where the hosts are so far apart, opposite ends of the map, that they can scarcely bear it. I'm Alun and I'm here with the ever-dogged Adam.
Adam:
[0:16] Alun, what I get up to in my spare time is none of your business. Thanks very much everyone for joining in for another week. We really do appreciate it. We've got a wicked show this week. I'm going to tell you a little bit about what I'm doing, where I've been, and arguably the biggest roller coaster that I've ever been on emotionally, not literally, because it involved a ferry.
Alun:
[0:34] I can't wait, Adam. I'm still here in Seoul having a proverbial whale of a time, yes. And I'm excited to hear about what it is that you've been up to, really.
Adam:
[0:44] So as you can see, I'm not currently in my van, and that is because I'm now in Auckland.
Travel Nightmares Unfold
Adam:
[0:50] I've managed to hole up for a few days. It's really nice after weeks and weeks of driving around. I am going to continue on my road trip don't worry you guys listening at home but I'm in a place called Verandas Parkside Lodge and they very kindly let me use this lounge area if I could spin the camera around I would but it's a great place to stay really well located highly recommend it and I've extended four times already so it gives you some idea of how much I like living here but I'm going to tell you a little story about how I got over to the North Island mate because it was, in recent memory, the worst travel nightmare I can think of.
Alun:
[1:25] Wow. And we've been through some things pretty much like hell together. Do you remember that time we took a taxi ride and nearly fell off the side of a mountain? Do you remember that time someone put their finger in my mouth on a bus? Do you remember when there's been a lot of food poisoning and difficulties over the course of the last couple of years? So I'm interested to hear how they were surpassed by these happenings.
Adam:
[1:47] Yeah, I think it was just because there were a few deadlines that we needed to meet. And in terms of a logistical issue that changed the shape of our trip, It just made it incredibly difficult to imagine that we could still do all of the things we wanted to do because of how much of a monumental fuck-up this would have been. So I'll set the scene. We were doing the Queen Charlotte track, which is, again, another one of these hikes. I know we're talking about walking and hiking a hell of a lot. But if you're not doing that in New Zealand, I don't know what you are doing.
Alun:
[2:21] Well, for me, I was working in a music shop and living in a crack house. So I barely went on even one hike.
Adam:
[2:30] Fair enough living in the crack house um i've not done any of that i mean that doesn't seem to feature on a lot of the list that i've been reading you know the top 10 must things that you know top 10 uh must must do things in new zealand but um yeah.
Alun:
[2:42] You've got to type in hidden gems.
Adam:
[2:44] On a shoestring budget that's amazing that's funny having said that though i mean if if you aren't interested in the outdoors or beautiful landscapes or adrenaline sports doing these really sort of long walks through hiking i don't know really unless you're into farming well.
Alun:
[3:02] And new zealand has the highest rates of.
Adam:
[3:04] Promiscuity in any country in the world okay i didn't know that is that a fact i'm.
Alun:
[3:09] Just stating the facts yeah.
Adam:
[3:10] Okay you're the facts guy um but people have asked me people have contacted me and said you know what should we do in new zealand how do you feel about the place what's your takeaway this kind of stuff if you're not into the outdoors and spending time outdoors and camping and walking and this kind of thing. I struggle to think... I mean, just all of the people that we meet are into all that sort of stuff. So, important.
Alun:
[3:35] And all the people that you don't meet are doing the promiscuity thing.
Adam:
[3:40] Yeah, you're probably about right.
Alun:
[3:44] I've noticed that there's never any private rooms available whenever I'm travelling in New Zealand. And everyone's having sex in the dorm room.
Adam:
[3:51] Yeah, amazing. They're a slow pace of life, of course, if that's what you're into, slowing down, going back to sort of maybe more simpler times. Not in an offensive way, but Jimmy Carr, the comedian Jimmy Carr, I can't possibly say this joke without mentioning his name. He was on a tour of New Zealand recently and he did say, New Zealand's not just a long way away, it's also a long time ago. And that really tickled me because I've kind of felt that sometimes. I love living here, I really do, of course. My experience has been amazing, but it's quite on the nose.
Alun:
[4:21] Okay, right. So you feel like you're blasting in the pasting.
Adam:
[4:24] Blasting in the pasting. We did the Queen Charlotte track, which again is at the very top of the South Island, the northern part of the South Island. People are rallying. People are signing petitions, all sorts of stuff to try and get this to be one of the Great Walks, the 11 Great Walks that New Zealand currently has. But it hasn't been designated as one just yet, but it is fantastic.
Alun:
[4:43] I'm on the government side with that.
Adam:
[4:46] 11's a good enough number, is it? Don't add a 12.
Alun:
[4:48] I think so. It doesn't have the same ring to it, does it, the 12 Great Walks? Because people get discouraged off the bat.
Hiking Adventures in New Zealand
Alun:
[4:53] They go, oh, 12's a bit much. 11, just right.
Adam:
[4:56] Yeah so just just picture this mate you've got picton which is the ferry point to go from picton over to the north island the ferry goes to wellington i don't know if you took that journey yourself but the queen charlotte track is pretty close to picton so people come and stay in picton and then they might take three four five days to do this i think it's 60 odd 70 kilometers something like that um through the queen charlotte sounds again absolutely stunning beautiful uh sort of rolling hills, mountains, little forest, going into inlets and coves and beaches, lovely beaches, this kind of thing. So amazing, amazing time. Now, we already had the ferry booked over to the North Island. So we were just, we had three or four days to play with. And my partner and I thought, why don't we do the Queen Charlotte track? We love walking. Otherwise, we wouldn't fucking be here, would we? And there's also a boat service that can take your luggage, i.e. the tent that we were carrying, that we were carrying on all the other walks, all the way along to the different points you stop at. So you basically get to Ship Cove, where Captain James Cook and his men stayed for a few months, if I'm not mistaken, all those years ago.
Adam:
[6:05] And you walk all the way down. And then at your first stop, you can arrange it with the boat team. They will drop your luggage off. So you unpack your tent, you stay there. And then they pick it up the following morning. You just leave it on the jetty. And then you get going. You walk 25 kilometers or whatever. And then it's delivered to the point you're going to camp at for the second night. And so on and so on, until you finish the whole thing. And then just get a little boat back to Penticton. so logistically it's certainly something to consider but it is very possible um it's probably also the most expensive walk we've done because of that but i would i would recommend it so there we were walking along you you kind of you understand what we were what we were sort of doing i guess um and we were going to arrive at the final point of this walk and then that night in the evening we were taking kind of an overnight ferry i think it was roughly around midnight or something arriving in Wellington a few hours later for the morning so we would have the full day in Wellington it just worked it was bloody tight it really was very tight but assuming everything went well we'd be able to have a couple of hours just to get our things ready in the van after doing the walk have a little shower at the hostel that we left our van at and then we would get the boat and we're over and we're laughing for the remainder of our trip.
Ferry Cancellations and Chaos
Adam:
[7:13] And then cut to the day before we were supposed to get the boat, so this is now the second to last day of our long walk, I came to within, well, close enough to civilization, basically, that I got connection on my phone. There was, you know, signal network, whatever. And I saw an email come through from Bluebridge Ferry, who are the ferry company that I'm going to name, shame on air, who were amazing in the end. But anyway, I'll tell you about that bit later on. uh received the email and um it said dear mr cousins we regret regret to inform you that your bluebridge ferry that was due for tomorrow night has been cancelled due to a mechanical issue you can either go online and reschedule or you can cancel and we'll give you a full refund, and it was like 8 p.m the day before we were supposed to go we had no idea what we were going to do, It completely consumed us because we were already camping somewhere that was quite a lot psychologically. When we arrived at the campsite that night, we met one of the rangers, one of the DOC, Department of Conservation Rangers. We'd put our tent down, already set up, quite near the beach, in objectively a lovely environment with a beautiful view. And he came over and said...
Alun:
[8:25] That's objectively lovely.
Adam:
[8:27] He came over.
Alun:
[8:28] Thanks for noticing.
Adam:
[8:29] He came over and said, hey, guys, just a little message for you there. It's going to be about 120 kilometres of winds tonight, so.
Alun:
[8:37] You're going to get blown the fuck away there. Lovely, though, it fucking is.
Adam:
[8:41] And I was like, oh, 120, that sounds strong.
Alun:
[8:46] And your ferry's being cancelled, your donuts, you're absolutely fucked.
Adam:
[8:51] I think our accent, our Kiwi accent probably sounds decidedly Australian, but I was like, okay.
Alun:
[8:56] You pommies don't have a clue, mate.
Adam:
[8:58] I've been called upon me loads of times yeah.
Alun:
[9:01] Well you are one so put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Adam:
[9:04] You uh he's he's sort of waited for us to react and i was like oh what should we do should we just like get all our stuff in the tent he'll be like no no move your tent definitely move your tent you put it up did.
Alun:
[9:15] You hear me mate i said 120 mile an hour winds.
Adam:
[9:17] Not mile an hour then we would have been in real trouble um but they were they were super strong winds we could sort of feel it coming in and he basically told everyone that was camping along the beach you know in front of the tree line get back up the hill try and find somewhere that's covered okay.
Alun:
[9:33] So you simply have to get your tent away out of the danger zone.
Adam:
[9:36] Yeah so after after walking all those kilometers without the tent on our back fair to say um we had to dismantle the tent and then we walked all the way back up the hill with the other backpackers or hikers that were there and then we found a nice little secluded section uh sort of surrounded by trees if you like, And then we had to deal, of course, with the stress of finding a new boat. So I'm there with pretty shit Wi-Fi connection or internet connection on my phone, going through the links in the email. And I was just so pissed off at the fact that this company had seemingly washed their hands with the responsibility of finding us a new boat.
Alun:
[10:11] How is you being pissed off manifesting itself? Are you sort of clenching your fists? Are you like huffing? Are you spitting? Are you getting into fights with the backpackers?
Adam:
[10:20] No, not at all really. I think I was just walking around in a circle, huffing and puffing.
Alun:
[10:25] Yeah, I know that off of being travelling with you in India. In the room in our dorm in India, there was a little bit of carpet that had worn out in a circle shape where Adam had got pissed off.
Adam:
[10:39] Yeah, I'm probably speaking a bit too much here. Basically, I think I was actually more annoyed at the fact that they had seemingly washed their hands of the whole thing. And they just said, oh, by the way, it's cancelled. There, you can reschedule at your own convenience, whatever. We don't care. Or get a refund. I mean, what a way out that is for a company. They're doing absolutely nothing to try and reorganise things for you or offer any solution or give you any money off or anything like that. It was awful. So I was more pissed off at that than maybe the fact that the boat had been cancelled. um which was kind of a strange thing to be in so we're there you know windy as anything we can hear the trees moving wake up the following morning i think right their office is open at eight i'm sure they're going to be inundated with calls but if i can get someone on the phone maybe we're onto a winner i'll see if i can just kind of charm something or see what the options are at least yeah.
Alun:
[11:31] You are good at that you are quite charming so i imagine that if you get a human on the phone you'll probably end up with a couple of ferry rides or an upgrade to first class.
Adam:
[11:39] Yeah maybe there is a way um so i opened the tent zip the door and there it was half a tree that had missed our missed our tent by a couple of meters a massive branch if it had fallen on the tent we would have been in big trouble wow.
Alun:
[11:56] Was it closer to your side of the tent or your partner's.
Adam:
[11:59] Uh it was closer to the my partner's side of the tent um but not by much it was kind of our feet who.
Alun:
[12:07] Chose the location of the tent.
Adam:
[12:09] Uh me me actually yeah that's.
Alun:
[12:13] Interesting isn't it and you always sleep on that side do you or you swap and change.
Adam:
[12:16] Uh we sometimes chop and change but i was adamant in that moment i was definitely taking the left side of the tent away from those big trees that looked very
Surviving the Storm
Adam:
[12:24] uh very old and you know not flexible at all so um okay.
Alun:
[12:29] So after that failed murder attempt what happened next.
Adam:
[12:32] Uh yeah we were walking down the track and i i got on the phone as soon as they opened i phoned them at eight o'clock as soon as it ticked over did you.
Alun:
[12:40] Know what's happened to me this morning i've nearly been killed by a tree and i'm not in the mood for any nonsense fairy folks.
Adam:
[12:46] That's it thanks for thanks very much the annoying thing is we're walking through stunning location and i'm there on hold so it went 757 59 8 bang press the button let's ring them and i was on hold for 52 minutes whilst walking along the last day of this hike, And managed to get someone on the phone.
Alun:
[13:05] Now, do you remember the music still or no?
Adam:
[13:08] Don't remember the music. No, it was just one of those nondescript, kind of slightly jazzy numbers that was maybe taking the heat off things a little bit.
Alun:
[13:16] Because I remember hold music in New Zealand is significantly superior to hold music elsewhere in the world. I once was just a full Crowded House album played when I was on the hold.
Adam:
[13:26] Really?
Alun:
[13:27] Yeah.
Adam:
[13:29] That's wicked. That would have put me in a good mood, but it wasn't that, unfortunately.
Alun:
[13:32] You're on hold. Here's the best of crowded house and the Roman Empire. It was like that. It was great.
Adam:
[13:40] It would have been nice. I needed cheering up. But the guy came on the phone. I was like, finally, thanks so much. Really looking forward to speaking to you. He said, look, let me just tell you now at the top of this conversation, you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you. And I was like.
Alun:
[13:54] Oh, it was me who saw down that tree last night.
Adam:
[13:58] No, he completely disarmed me. I was there, you know, ready to charm something if I could. But he said, you're not going to like what I'm going to tell you. So we had a conversation. I said, look, just tell me what the options are and then we'll work with those.
Alun:
[14:09] You're terminally ill. Oh, I'm sorry. Wrong person. You actually, sure, I could do a refund.
Adam:
[14:15] You are going to like what I'm about to say.
Alun:
[14:18] Sorry, I'm working multiple jobs at the same time. I'm a doctor.
Adam:
[14:23] Can you even imagine? The options were, basically, as the email said, either we get a full refund or we reschedule. And I said, look, just tell us what the earliest boat you can get us on is. And it wasn't for another two and a half weeks, something like that.
Alun:
[14:41] Wow.
Adam:
[14:42] I mean, it was absolutely insane.
Alun:
[14:44] It was a big technical issue they were experiencing.
Adam:
[14:46] Yeah, they're only, because they're fully booked. Because we're traveling sort of around Christmas, New Year, January time. Every single boat that goes across was booked. I don't know how many they've got in their fleet, but let's say they've got a couple of boats in their fleet. They just do doggy runs between the two islands. And we've got a van as well. So if you go as a foot passenger, you're likely to get on much sooner. But because we had a van, we were already lucky to book that boat because we got told by a friend a week prior, if I was you guys, I know that you've got this kind of very packed out itinerary on the North Island. and then my partner had a flight that she needed to catch so we really didn't have much wiggle room, and he said i'd have a look at the bookings because they are you know things are being booked up thick and fast we jumped straight online managed to get a booking that we were really pleased with that was the one that got cancelled and then this guy said yeah i don't really know what i can do for you to be honest surely.
Alun:
[15:42] It's their priority to get you on the boat.
Adam:
[15:44] He said that same boat has had multiple technical issues and this has now affected thousands of people over the last few weeks so they're just kind of taking it out of um operation i guess and working on it but yeah we don't really have a solution for you other than just book in two and a half or three weeks time when when there's availability or you can go with our competitor who's slightly more expensive and then you can maybe send us an email and we might pay the difference that's kind of a little thing we're doing for people i was like this is this is crazy there are people that come to new zealand for three weeks and they get this ferry and they have a rental car and it's their like one family holiday that year or they say that's.
Alun:
[16:21] What i did.
Adam:
[16:22] Yeah when i was there i mean yeah you're you're impacting so many people there must be another option he said there's there's nothing i can do make my hands are tied i said okay well i'll i'll think out of the box here why don't.
Alun:
[16:34] When i come and live at your.
Adam:
[16:35] House, no no i thought we could about we can abandon the van, which will be a shame obviously because we're in love with that thing but we can come across as foot passengers we can continue the itinerary like i said we didn't have any room to maneuver because we didn't want to stop seeing all of the things or not see the things that we had wanted to see i mean this is maybe once in a lifetime we're down in this country so um we thought maybe we can hitchhike we can maybe rent another vehicle that's going to be at our own cost i mean these tickets are already 500 each to get a van between the islands which is just extortionate at this time of year um and then maybe i can come back as a foot passenger, later on for free at your cost because it's your issue and not mine and you're you know completely fucking up my plans um and everyone else is the other thousands people and then i will come and get my van at a time when it's more convenient but i only want to pay the one ticket that i've already paid he said yeah mate that sounds good there's no reason why we wouldn't do that for you i could totally understand it's such a massive inconvenience we we apologize um if you want to do that then um yeah we can do that for you but you will have to go and speak to the guys down at the office uh at the kind of depot you know where the boats launch from on that in the harbor and that sort of thing but just tell them you've spoken to me my name's jack or whatever his name was uh and uh this is what you want to do let.
Ingenious Solutions and Persistence
Alun:
[17:56] Me tell you that name holds some.
Adam:
[17:58] Weight down at the office jack in the wellington office um just tell the guys down there you spoke to me uh they'll sign everything off and then we'll just go in that direction so yeah at least that was positive and we were we were going to do that it wasn't ideal but i do think that that's a great place to stop for the moment we'd have a little breaky poo and then i'll tell you the rest of the story in the second section.
Alun:
[18:17] All right let's go on a capitalistic voyage, That was a capitalistic voyage. All right, Adam, what happens next in your story, mate?
Adam:
[19:34] So we went back down to the depot. We've finished the hike. We're feeling sweaty, horrible. We haven't had a shower in a few days. We've got all of us.
Alun:
[19:44] You've had near-death experiences.
Adam:
[19:46] Yeah, we nearly got killed by a tree, all that sort of thing. And then we went in, not all guns blazing, but we parked at the Blue Bridge Ferry Terminal. um where you could see there was obviously obviously some distress there were a lot of people milling around waiting trying to catch staff members um so i went in and spoke to them and spoke to this lovely young lady and asked her what the options were and basically told her the conversation i'd had with one of her colleagues on the north island and she said um i'm almost certain we're not going to be able to do that for you jack wouldn't have.
Alun:
[20:23] Said that okay.
Adam:
[20:24] That's not like him is something.
Alun:
[20:27] Wrong with jack.
Adam:
[20:27] Yeah i know jack he's a he's a doctor um no he uh she basically said look i'm sorry but i really don't think that's possible um we can offer you a refund or you can maybe book further down the line i was like no i've already had this conversation i've got an absolutely packed schedule for the next three or four weeks and my partner's got a flight she needs to take so there must be another way haven't you got like a standby list or something she said oh yeah you can go on the standby list i said okay great so what does that mean she said well you effectively just come to every single boat that you haven't booked on and if there's space on the odd occasion that there might be some extra space because someone cancels doesn't turn up which probably won't happen at this time of year because of the technical issues and the fact it's the busiest period of the of the year um then you get to go on i was like okay so you have this sort of like list we can be added to that can we yeah yeah yeah it's quite long at the moment obviously with the cancellations and stuff i was like okay so if we go on this list when do we get on she said well there's no guarantee but if i put you on now you'll be 80th on the list and i was like okay that doesn't sound promising at all 80 is a massive number and she said yeah yeah i mean um, We can only get, in some cases, no one goes on extra.
Alun:
[21:46] Jack at the Wellington office keeps on putting people on the list.
Adam:
[21:49] Yeah, good old Jack at the Wellington office promising things he can't deliver. So I said, well, that's simply not good enough. I mean, do you have a supervisor? Is there management here that we can talk to? And she said, oh, yeah, yeah. I was like, can you get them, please? And, you know, my partner's like, oh, God, here we go. uh so anyway walks out gets the um this woman who's the supervisor there she came out and i could immediately see she had been inundated with calls she was up to the eyeballs she just did not want any of this to go on any longer she was fuming angry down um you know she's exhausted she just had enough and she was like hi i said uh yeah i'm sure you kind of know the story the reason why we're here and that sort of stuff and she was, brutally honest and there was no charming her she wasn't falling for it, I just had to say what's the likelihood and she was like it's really unlikely that you'll get there in the next few days I mean that's just the fact of the matter and I was like that's not good enough, I said there must be another option she said yeah there is another option it's the other ferry which is more expensive I was like, This customer service is just beyond.
Alun:
[23:07] But do they know you've got a travel podcast?
Adam:
[23:10] No, I didn't doubt that. I didn't say, look, by the way, there is a chance that if you don't let me get over for free or sort this out in some manner, then there could be grave consequences for you. But yeah, we were just feeling really dejected and stuff. And she said, look, what I would advise is you just go and get a beer.
Alun:
[23:30] And then another beer. And keep drinking beers until I'm off the hook.
Adam:
[23:33] As soon as he said that, I just thought, I can't believe you even said that. I just had no energy left in me. I'd fought the good fight and explained the story about me and my partner and all the things we wanted to do. And the fact that, you know, it'd be such a colossal... shame if we weren't able to do that because of this and i really don't feel like bluebridge really did anything to help us um as an apology and she was like yeah you and the 6 000 other people i was like okay all right now's the time for the beer and now we're going for the bit the.
Alun:
[24:04] Company's just so big that there's no like personal liability right she's just like well it is what it is.
Adam:
[24:10] Yeah and also they've got like the monopoly the two companies because there's no other option so could.
Alun:
[24:16] There be could someone start another option or you reckon they're bound by the government to
be the only two.
Adam:
[24:20] Yeah yeah i don't know i mean i'm sure there are some government this must be government involvement because they're going across the cook straight and uh it's also incredibly expensive business to run i imagine there's probably not that many other people in the conversation or at the table but um i don't know if they kind of lean into that so we went away we got a beer i.
Alun:
[24:40] Love how you did what she said.
Adam:
[24:41] Oh yeah what else are you going to do in this scenario I thought we could just drive around the South Island for another two weeks and book the latest boat. But we had so many amazing things planned. And the next boat that was available was only two days before my partner's flight. So we would have had to race, done an eight and a half, nine hour drive. And it would have meant that we didn't spend any time in the North Island at all, really. Most of it would be on the road and it would just be before her flight. So it just wasn't appealing at all. and i said why don't we just let's go down to the terminal make a nuisance of ourselves and just try and get on every single boat and maybe who knows maybe by tomorrow night or maybe the following morning we might be here for another two or three days at least because we're 80th on the list or whatever um thanks to jack but uh i don't know i don't maybe it's worth it's better to be there, and present I think so and see how it works and be I.
Alun:
[25:38] Think that's smart.
Adam:
[25:38] Because you never know people might have just made other plans they might have cancelled their boat and got a flight instead or whatever you're basically.
Alun:
[25:44] Doggedly pursuing the only advantage that you have.
Adam:
[25:46] Which is that we're on the list and we're there um yeah, with with our van and yeah i suppose i thought maybe if we turn up slightly earlier so we had the beer it was nice we were yeah quite rightly feeling down we went back to bluebridge at the time they told us to so we were there at about seven and the boat that we were hoping to get on or the next boat that was due to leave anyway wasn't until
about nine o'clock i walked back in the the staff immediately looked at me and they were like oh fucking hell this guy again i imagine that's what they were thinking in their heads um and i said yeah just just announcing our arrival letting.
Adam:
[26:22] You know we're here in the car park with the van uh big smiles on our faces we had the beer you told us to have a beer we're in good spirits um incredibly optimistic thank you and um if you could just put put they have basically have to note down that you are on the list and present so that if there is any space you're you know they're not flicking through the list wondering who's here and who's not um and yeah it got to about 9 30 so the boat should have already left a lot of disgruntled people people walking around in high visits that sort of stuff not really much information being told to the people that were in the waiting area some cars were moving and stuff um but we just hadn't had any information at all and there was no one going on the boat either so I went over and spoke to a lady who had a high vis and a clipboard and I said I'm really sorry I don't want to bother you I hadn't spoken to this woman before it's the first time I'd seen her um I said I really don't want to bother you but um I was just wondering is there any more information for people on the standby list for for this boat and she said tell me your name and I said Adam Cousins and she didn't even look down at the clipboard she went oh yeah there's two Two of you, you're both on this boat now. I was like, yeah. Uh... She was like, yeah, yeah, we got you on. I was like, but we were 80th on the list. She said, no, no, yeah, we know, but you're on, you're going. So if you could move your van.
Alun:
[27:46] Unfortunately, there's been a terrible incident and 79 people can't make it.
Adam:
[27:50] She said, yeah, you've got to get moving pretty quick.
Alun:
[27:53] Jack at head office has gone mental.
Adam:
[27:55] He's picking you up in a speedboat now. He's just coming over from Wellington. But yeah, she said, look, get your van in this queue. You'll get a ticket. Just go around. But you guys are definitely on. And I was like, really? But it's definitely me. She was like, yeah, definitely you. You're definitely.
Alun:
[28:09] Adam, just take the win, mate. Really? Promise?
Adam:
[28:12] I just couldn't believe it because we were so... The reality had changed. You know, we knew we weren't going to be there. We knew we weren't going to be there for a couple of days. We'd already accepted that. And the funny thing is...
Alun:
[28:22] Karen from head office has just been telling people to go and have a beer. And if they do, we get them on the boat. It's a sort of sick mind game that she plays.
Adam:
[28:30] The crazy thing was, right, when I went and told my partner, her head nearly popped off. She was like, really? I was like, no, seriously, we need to get going. We're fucking on.
Alun:
[28:39] Maybe that's what kept on happening Everyone's heads were popping off And they had to cancel You're on the boat Okay, right, not you You're on the boat.
Adam:
[28:50] There's 70 79 people before us no heads just walking bodies walking around blue bridge yeah at.
Alun:
[28:57] Some point we're gonna have to stop telling people about the boat because they're immediately exploding.
Adam:
[29:02] God that's a funny imagery but um i couldn't believe it obviously beside ourselves absolutely amazing um uh drove around i mean my partner said to me i'm sure they just couldn't be bothered with the hassle you know because i was so persistent just like a dog with a bone all that kind of stuff but the funny thing was about this story is that we actually ended up getting over to wellington earlier than if the original boat had gone so we actually won time because our boat wasn't due to leave until midnight and this one left at about 9 45 or something so we actually after all that we didn't pay any more money um and we were it was just one of the best in terms of roller coaster can you imagine the ups and downs thinking that our entire trip in the north island was just wiped away uh thrown in the bin and and then it was all possible and we were over there with little fergie the van and it was such a massive wonderful moment great
The Victory of Tenacity
Adam:
[29:57] great victory for um for the team i'm.
Alun:
[30:00] Very very impressed with your tenacity your doggedness your persistence i think you're an excellent traveler an excellent partner and an excellent customer to that most famous of ferry companies blue bridge so goodness well done adam i'm incredibly proud of you and i'm looking forward to hearing what sort of things you get up to in the north island over the coming weeks now that you're there i of course i'm still in seoul south korea and i'll continue to be here we've got lots of stories coming up lots of travel lots of classic tripological tales of wonderment for now though that's all we have time for before we head over to our patreon uh there's a link to our patreon in the description if you want some bonus tripology content and i know that you do all you guys who don't want to pay anything though we'll see you next week.
Adam:
[30:42] Thanks ever so much for tuning in guys we really appreciate it and we look forward to seeing you on the next one bye bye.
