The "Aratika" was one of the fleet of New Zealand Railways inter-island ferries which operate between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. She joined the fleet in 1974 carrying railway carriages,commercial freight, automobiles and passengers. In 1976 she was considerably lengthened (as shown above) and continued in this role until retired in 1999 when she was sold to the MBRS Line of Manilla for use in the Phillipines.

Note: The above postage stamp  was issued by the alternative postal operator called "Petes Post" which operates throughout the lower North Island through a series of francise owner/operators. The red cancellation is applied by "Petes Post". In the above case because the letter is addressed to a Post Office Box it has also gone through the NZ Post system in a inter-access agreement the two postal operators use for the exchange of mail between their two postal systems.

The "Pete's Post" stamps are sold in booklets of 10 stamps. The 35 cents rate is the local post rate and covers delivery within Wellington only.