Day 7 The North Sea

This was to be our last day in Amsterdam, with Kay and Alistair flying out to Dubai on their way back to Australia, and us catching the ferry across to Newcastle in England. As we weren't boarding until 2 pm we did not rush to the station.  However, after saying good-bye to our friends we proceeded to have one of the most stressful days ever, through no fault of our own - well, not really.
Firstly, we realised at the last minute that we were on the wrong platform going to the wrong port, so I made a hurried return to the ticket office and managed to change our tickets. The tickets we were then given were for a train and a bus, but when we got off the train and downstairs to the bus the driver refused to acknowledge the tickets as being bus tickets!  So again I raced upstairs and was told that the driver was wrong and that they were indeed bus tickets, so we had to then wait half an hour or so for the next bus.
All went well on this bus until we were close to the port of Ijmuiden, when Neil asked a woman if that was the ferry stop and she said it was.
We got off the bus and then discovered that she meant the small ferry port, not the big one where we were supposed to be, which was a couple of kilometres further on!
Our only choice was to drag our bags along the path next to the bike track for the next two kilometres and hopefully make the ferry on time.  Needless to say, I was not in the best mood, so when we came close to a petrol station I left the bags with Neil and went inside to ask how far we had to go.  Just by chance there was a lady there who offered us a lift in her car, so we dragged our bags over and packed them in the old jalopy and off we went.  She was an interesting person, a little eccentric I think, and drove pretty close to the wharf and through a restricted area, but she got us there!
It was with some relief that we sat down at the terminal, right on time for the 2 pm boarding.
Things just got better and better after that.  Our Commodore Deluxe cabin on the DFDS Seaways ferry was amazing, and in no time we had drunk the bar dry.  It was complimentary, which it should be for the $500 fare. The bed was huge and comfy, and the buffet food very yummy.
After a very smooth sixteen hour crossing we pulled into Newcastle, ready to explore before heading to Manchester in the afternoon.