Cruising on the Interislander - The Warratahs

We'd been offered ads before but this one worked because we toured a lot, the ferry was part of our highway and it all tied together. And there was the Cook Strait with all its beauty and craziness, it was a part of us and we were a part of it.

– Barry Saunders on the first Interislander advert, in a Radio New Zealand interview, 10 September 2018

Easy come, easy go, I'm going to go with the flow. Hey what's the hurry, what's the rush?

– Opening lyrics to Cruising on the 1998 Interislander jingle

Phoenix Foundation frontman Samuel Flynn Scott remembers one crossing where he played the 'Cruising on the Interislander' song with its composer, Barry Saunders of The Warratahs. "I think we ended up playing 'Cruisin' twice. It felt like one of those uniquely New Zealand experiences where you are doing this slightly awkward show to save a few hundred bucks but also performing beloved classics and putting on a subversively great gig."

– Musician Samuel Flynn Scott on playing with composer Barry Saunders on an Interislander ferry trip, The Spinoff, 23 July 2018

Before that ad, we had been a working country/folk/rock band. Then that came along like a missile that went into middle New Zealand. Even now, a couple of times a week someone in the street will mention it. Quite unbelievable!

– Composer Barry Saunders on the huge appeal of their Interislander jingle, Audioculture, 14 August 2018