The Malaga to Melilla ferry takes about 8.5 hours and usually leaves Malaga around midday, so you arrive in Melilla around 9 at night. Melilla, along with Ceuta (also called Sebta) are very small enclaves that are part of Spain.

The crossing was calm and pleasent enough. I kicked back and whittled some so to speak, wondered around on board, drunk coffee and chatted to some more ozzie backpackers who were off trekking in the Rif mountains (Northern Morocco).

After the ferry arrived in the port at Melilla, I held up the entire vehicle deck because nobody arrived to open the same door down onto the vehicle deck that I had come through previously. After getting suspicious that nobody was coming to open it, and hearing horns tooting, I made a mad dash around the (large) ferry to find the one door out of the eight that they had opened!

It seemed to amuse some of the staff, but not many of the waiting truck drivers. So a slightly flustered drive off the ferry and onto the african continent!