7 days a week. 365 days a year.
First ferry runs continuously from Darling Bay 5.30 a.m.
Nina gazed at the white hexagonal tower on the ferry top and smiled. ‘All this looks nice. I’ve never been on a chain-link ferry before. How quaint.’
‘Haven’t you?’ Robby queried. ‘Haven’t you been on the one at Woolwich?’
‘Woolwich?’ Nina asked with a frown on her face. ‘I didn’t know there was one there. What, does it go across the Thames?’
‘Yep, the Woolwich Ferry. I’ve been on it a few times. We had a big contract over that way a few years ago. It’s like a commuter ferry similar to this one. Have to say, though, the water isn’t quite as blue on the Thames. Nowhere near it. Sludgy brown more like.’
‘Never heard of it. I was at the other end of town so I don’t suppose I would have.’
‘Are you saying you were at the posh end?’ Robby joked.
Nina laughed. ‘I guess I was, not that I thought it then.’
They sat in silence for a bit as the ferry clunked and clanged as it made its way toward the mainland.
Nina sighed. ‘Ooh, I do love a nice day out. It’s good to go off somewhere for the day. Gives you a little break.’
Robby squinted over the estuary. ‘Is it me, or is there a certain kind of colour that I can’t quite put my finger on?’
‘I just thought the same thing, too. It’s sort of like a hazy blue somehow…’
‘Yeah, you can’t quite put your finger on it, but it really looks nice.’
‘I think I read something about it now that I think about it. It said something about the blue when I was looking at the tourist information website.’
‘Right, yeah, there’s definitely something about it.’
Nina pointed up at the sign underneath the ferry information board. ‘It says up there about the dazzling blue waters of the Darling Estuary.’
‘Nice.’
Both of them looked over towards the floating bridge. It appeared exactly as it was described, and she watched in fascination as it made its way over to land. Two thick chains disappeared down a sloping causeway into the water. Nina turned to see a line of passengers queuing to get on and a stream of cars waiting at the gate by the embarkation point. A man withan old leather satchel across his body and a navy blue hat with the floating bridge logo on the front made his way along the line of foot passengers. People held out travel cards and phones and tapped on a little gadget he held out in front of him.
He smiled as he got to Nina and Robby.
‘Ahoy there, my lovers. Are we foot passengers to Darling?’
‘We are.’
The man’s deeply wrinkled, tanned skin formed into even deeper lines. ‘And are we residents?’
Nina frowned. ‘Pardon? Are we British residents?’
The man chuckled. ‘I’m not the Border Agency, my lover. I have to ask whether or not you are a resident of our fair island here. Darling Island has its own laws, believe it or not. Even though I am almost certainly sure you’re not a resident, I have to ask.’
Nina scratched the side of her head.What was all this stuff about being a resident and law? Where on earth were they?She was fairly sure the man was having a joke with her. He wasn’t allowed to ask her what her residency status was, surely. However, there was no way she was going to point that out. ‘We’re not residents, nope.’
The deeply weathered man joked with a friendly laugh and tapped the side of his temple. ‘Intentions to be one at any point?’
‘No, quite happy where we are, thanks.’
‘Rightio, if you’re both non-residents, that will be one pound fifty each, please. Paying together? If my maths is correct, I’d make that three pounds.’ The man held out the little machine.
Nina tapped her card and the machine beeped. ‘What happens if you’re a resident, just out of interest?’
