A little rough with the smooth can make for the most memorable days, writes Karen Trebilcock.
We chose the ferry.
Maybe the slightly raised eyebrows of our travel agent when we told her we'd take the ferry should have been enough for us to choose the plane. Maybe Lonely Planet's recommendation to take the plane ''as the bird's-eye view of the islands is wonderful'' should have convinced us to choose the plane.
We chose the ferry and so had, if it was definitely not the best day of our lives, what certainly became one of our most memorable.
We chose the ferry because of the children. The only boat they had been on was the Devonport ferry on a holiday to Auckland when our oldest was just tall enough to eyeball my aunt's Doberman, Smudgy. (We stayed, Smudgy went to the kennels). All they can remember about the boat was that they lost their bouncy ball over the side. Our tickets were for the midday sailing.
We got to the wharf just after 11am and left the car in the queue while we checked out the boat. The Lady Samoa II was large - bottom deck for vehicles, upper deck for passengers. We watched as several trucks carrying timber were manoeuvred on. We waited in the car for our turn. Local utes and four-wheel drives from behind us in the queue were waved forward. Finally there was just us and a few other tourists waiting. The unthinkable was happening.
''Ferry full,'' we were told.
''Next sailing 2pm.''
At 1pm our car was first in the queue. Salafai (we didn't bother to ask how it was pronounced) was a much smaller ferry. Behind us were several trucks, local utes and cars. They started loading the trucks on first. Then the locals. And then, finally, with a sigh of relief, there was room for us. We were on, our tiny green rental car secured into place by a couple of bricks kicked against the tyres. The children and I got out. My husband wasn't so fast. From the driver's seat he had to crawl out the passenger window as another vehicle was driven up alongside it.
In the middle of it all was a woman, dressed in a white top, white long skirt, sunglasses perched, declaring in a Sydney accent: ''I didn't think it would be like this.''
We found a sliver of shade between an Auckland flight attendant's rental car and the side of the boat. The children played with their scanner racers. My husband talked to the flight attendant. I watched the waves and tried not to turn a similar shade. An hour and a-half later we were at Savai'i. We had made it.
- Karen Trebilcock is a Dunedin journalist, author and playwright.
- Tell us about your best day. Write to odt.features@odt.co.nz. We ask correspondents not to nominate weddings or births; of course they were the best days.
