Boarding The Interislander Vehicle Ferry On Our Motorbikes From Picton

This video shows the boarding and parking process with motorbikes when using the Interislander Ferry service from Picton at the top of New Zealand's South Island.
Following eight days of riding adventures in the South Island on our Harley-Davidsons we boarded the Interislander Ferry 'Aratere' to take us back to the North Island and start our journey home to Auckland. Filmed in mid-November 2022 this video shows the boarding process for motorbikes and the parking location on board the 'Aratere'.
As with our crossing in the Southerly direction from Wellington the interislander ferry experience with a motorbike can be summarised as follows: arrive in plenty of time (final check-in is usually one hour before scheduled sailing time), have your ticket and ID handy, expect to wait at a staging area or two and you are strongly advised to bring your own tie-downs. I followed the advice of my pal Deano from ‪@deanosmotorcyclerides‬ and bought a couple of 25mm x 4.5m S-Hook Tie Down Ratchet sets for the princely sum of $12 per 2pk from the local hardware store.
The sailing time is a little over three and a half hours and we were lucky enough to cross in perfectly calm clear conditions. On board facilities were fine and there is plenty of seating (first come first served) and food, drink and coffee options and also plenty of access to the outdoor decks.

[@mostlikely...]

🏁🏆

[@HughBeRiding]

😎 🇳🇿

[@dynaridingnz]

What I find amazing is how they turn those big rigs around. If that's what happens of course

[@HughBeRiding]

Yeah man, same. Some of the trailers get pulled in with a little vehicle like an aircraft tug and that would be pretty manoeuvrable but others just drive straight onboard. Full credit to the operators however they do it !

[@kaitlynbremner391]

I’m going to be taking my bike across for the first time next weekend and this really helped me. Do they provide those straps or did you guys bring them

[@HughBeRiding]

We took our own along. They do have straps on the vessels but they are a little hit and miss if you know what I mean. I bought a couple of 25mm x 4.5m S hook tie downs from the local hardware store which cost around $12 per 2pk. Hope you have a good crossing !

[@kaitlynbremner391]

@@HughBeRiding okay thank you, I will probably get my own then too☺️