Hokianga travellers have been left high and dry while the vehicle ferry between The Narrows near Kohukohu and Rawene undergoes maintenance - but no-one is complaining.
The eight-year-old vessel will be out of the water for 10 days during its first full out-of-water hull survey and maintenance procedure.
It means residents face
a lengthy travel between the two sides of Hokianga Harbour.
There have been few complaints about the inconvenience that could see some motorists now travel two hours by road, one way, if they needed to take a vehicle from Kohukohu to Rawene. The ferry trip took 15 minutes.
Maritime New Zealand requires the ferry to be inspected by October 26. That can only be done, along with hull maintenance and other examination work, by putting the ferry on a slip.
A large number of spectators watched as the double-ended, monohulled 146-tonne Kohu Ra Tuarua was slipped onto a specially built slipway at The Narrows on Thursday.
Most locals were pleased the work was being done, and to have an improved slipway which enables emergency repairs to be carried out locally.
"This gives us a terrific feeling of security and in exchange for safety it's really a minimal loss of service.
"We've always had this feeling of what would happen if the ferry breaks down," Kohukohu resident Bruce Thorpe and Western Community Board member said.
A passenger-only launch service carrying up to 19 people at a time would operate on the ferry's usual timetable until the Kohu Ra Tuarua was slipped back into the water on October 15.
"This is an absolutely fantastic passenger launch service from Kohukohu to Rawene. At only a dollar, that's got to be the best bargain in the world," Mr Thorpe said.
The Far North District Council held public meetings earlier this year to give local communities time to plan for the service being temporarily out of action.
Hokianga Health - which operates Rawene Hospital and is likely to be among the hardest hit by the loss of the ferry - says patient services, lab tests, pharmaceutical supplies and staff transport are all expected to be stretched to the limit.
Acute patients needing emergency treatment would be helicoptered to Whangarei while north-side patients would go to Kaitaia by ambulance.
The Kohu Ra Tuarua is owned by the council and operated by Impact Services Ltd. Designed for the Hokianga run, it was built by Ship Constructors Ltd in Whangarei in 1998.
