Cook Strait rail ferries
'The floating bridge' - Cook Strait ferries
'An array of awful pies' - Cook Strait ferries
Rough crossings - Cook Strait ferries
Branding the Cook Strait ferries
Strikes and strandings - Cook Strait ferries
The Cook Strait ferries were vital to the flow of freight and passengers between the North and South islands (especially before the days of cheap air travel). Any interruptions, whether they were caused by bad weather, mechanical problems or strikes and lockouts, inevitably hit the headlines and touched raw nerves.
Fast ferries on Cook Strait
Vomit comets
The old fable about the tortoise and the hare was replayed on Cook Strait for a decade from 1994 as a series of fast ferries – dubbed ‘vomit comets’ – offered travellers a quick dash across the ditch.
SS Penguin plaque
A plaque commemorating the wreck of the SS Penguin, New Zealand's worst maritime disaster. It is located on a prominent rock at Tongue Point close to where the ship, carrying 102 people, is thought to have hit rocks and foundered.
The plaque was due to be unveiled at the site during a ceremony to mark the disaster's centenary on 12 February 2009. But poor weather resulted in the ceremony being moved to Makara Hall. The plaque was installed on the rock a few days later.
Interislander stamp
The Interislander ferry features in The A to Z of New Zealand stamp series produced by New Zealand Post in 2008.
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