Hitch Hiking

Here's my quick hitch hiking diary of the 18 experiences I had hitch hiking.

01. Stefan (Germany)
Vehicle: Green minivan with bed in place of back seats.
Location: Kaikoura to Christchurch (2 hours)

Super nice IT guy I met on the 3-day Kaikoura private tramp. Really caring, shyish guy who was really willing to help me out.

02. 3 young (low-20s) Christian New Zealanders
Vehicle: White car
Location: Christchurch (20 minutes)

They turned around when they saw me hitching and went out of their way to bring me out of the city a bit more. Good guys who all attended various Bible schools in New Zealand and knew the pains of hitching out of Christchurch. They were a huge blessing after a frusterating day in the big city.

03. New Zealand couple (high 20s)
Vehicle: Black car
Location: Christchurch to Timaru (2.5 hours)

Right after the last car dropped me off I got picked up by a rowdy couple ready to party in Timaru. They smoked and drank and cursed like sailors.

Pretty sketchy couple but they respected me.

Listened to hip-hop/R&B music and cranked the bass up... I felt so out of place.

They stopped every 30 minutes because the girl drank so much she kept having to go to the bathroom.

04. Maori couple (40s)
Vehicle: Dark red car
Location: Timaru to small town north of Oamaru (1.5 hours)

Also smokers, big jokesters - like most Natives.

We didn't talk much, they just talked about their problematic family and cursed because there was a slow car ahead of them. They had plenty of chances to pass the car (many cars were passing us even) but they decided to stay behind the slow car and complain. It was a nice ride though.

05. New Zealander couple (30s)
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: To Oamaru from middle of nowhere (.5 hours)

Talked about Olympics, scenery, New Zealand - real generic stuff

06. Sharon (mid 30s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Oamaru to Waikouaiti (2 hours)

Probably my favourite hitch hiking experience. Sharon was super nice and we talked the whole time, which was rare up to this point.

Talked about everything really. She attends a Catholic church and is going back to school in Dunedin to become a nurse. She grew up on the farm and loved it.

07. New Zealand fisherman
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: Waikouaiti (2 minutes)

After spending 3 days in solitude in Waikouaiti this guy just stopped and offered me a ride to the main road.

08. Adam (mid 20s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: 1980 vintage red sports car - maxed out at 140km/hr... shame
Location: Waikouaiti to Waipara(5 hours)

The most interesting experience for sure. Pretty much the first thing the guy says to me after I introduced myself was that he was on a mission to get weed because he doesn't want to go all the way from Dunedin to Piction (8+ hour drive) without it. We ended up stopping in Oamaru for 30 minutes while he went around the residential streets to different houses trying to get some. Thank God he didn't - I didn't want to find out if he was actually going to smoke it in the car.

Smoked 8 cigarettes while driving, and had lots of disrespectful comments to various drivers. "This is why there are car crashes in New Zealand." - He drove 120-130km/hr most of the time so he was super effecient and I wouldn't have gotten past Christchurch any faster.

Conversation topics included: weed, politics, education, spirit bears, gangs, war, fatal car crashes

09. Hannah and Karen (mid 20s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: dark green car
Location: Waipara to random place in the northwest (2 hours)

Students traveling from Christchurch to Nelson to Christchurch in the afternoon/night

Picked up another hitch hiker two minutes after me. They said they might as well make their trip worth it.

The hitch hiker they picked up was a Harry Krishner monk and he was super interesting. I really liked hearing what he had to say about living life, and his morals were very paralell to Christians'

10. Israeli (mid 20s)
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: Random place to Reefton (40 minutes)

Most laid back guy I have ever met. At first I thought he was just rude but he was just really laid back about picking me up and everything.

Served in the Israeli army for 2 years (mandatory) and got out to explore New Zealand for half a year - really into multiculteral community living

11. Retired farmer (70-80s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: Tan Oldsmobile
Location: Reefton to middle of nowhere (20 minutes)

He saw me walking by his farmhouse up the highway and decided to give his car a drive to keep the oil up or something like that.

He drove me 20 minutes down the highway and told me all about the farms we were passing and who owned what. He actually had owned quite a few of the farm pastures we passed at one point or another.

12. Middle-aged couple from Holland
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Middle of nowhere (5 minutes)

Picked me up after I had walked for an hour along the windy highway. They ended up driving me only two minutes because they had to take a different turn off, but after walking a long time in a backpack and getting only a few kilometers getting driven for 5 minutes and getting 7-8 kms down the road is a huge deal and feels like a loooooooong time.

13. German couple (40s)
Vehicle: Travel campervan
Location: Middle of nowhere to Westport (40 minutes)

Nice German couple traveling for a few weeks. The lady talked to me the whole time while I was sitting on their bed in the back. She was really interested in the Bible and said that the first thing she thinks of when she hears about the Bible is nature.

At this point I realized I had never been picked up by a truck despite many passing me by, and began being a bit prejudiced against trucks when I was hitching. Lo' and behold the next two people who picked me up drove trucks...

14. Greg (New Zealand) (40s)
Vehicle: White company truck
Location: Westport to half-way to Karamea (30 minues)

Nice man who worked on repairing roads and knew tons about the forestry and economics of the west coast.

15. Matthew (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: Black truck
Location: Small town to Little Wanganui (20 minutes)

Pretty Maori-looking. Tattoos down the arms, pretty rough personality but very hospitable. He offered a place to stay and I didn't really know what to do but then he kinda just drove to off course Karamea, towards his house down a gravel road so he made up my mind for me. His community was very interesting. I didn't even feel like I was in New Zealand anymore. His house was really rundown and there was junk everywhere. You couldn't see table tops. Pots and pans and papers covered them, the grass was super long and it was just kinda creepy. I kept thinking "What am I doing here?!?" His daughter who was super talkative and outgoing (she was maybe 4) showed me around the whole house. They had a little shack in their backyard behind "the jungle" which was where I slept. It was a little 10x10 room with a mattress and so I stayed in there for the night. Matthew also offered his kayak so I spent a few hours exploring the river which lead to the ocean on that. They had planned a barbeque with some friends on the beach so I went with them and had some good filling food for the first time in awhile. I really felt out of place being there with a bunch of older people and then their kids (5-15) but I got connected with this guy named Sam right away. He talked and talked and was really interested in Canada and my thoughts on anything and everything. It was such a blessing talking to him the whole time. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't seen him. It started pouring so we left and I stayed the night in the jungle and left the next morning.

16. Melissa (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: White car
Location: Little Wanganiu to Karamea (20 minutes)

Matthew's wife showed up the next day and she took me into Karamea along with her daughter. She was much less rugged, pretty nice.

17. South African couple (20s)
Vehicle: Black camper
Location: Karamea to Little Wanganui

After walking in the pouring rain for half an hour I got picked up by this couple who were planning on moving/working in New Zealand. They had this camper which they were adding to. They added a bed, sink, cupboards, closet to the back and they were also building a boat back in Karamea to pass the time before they got jobs.

18. Sam (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Middle of nowhere to Westport

I walked another 2 hours in the pouring rain but I had pretty high spirits so I didn't really start minding until 1.5 hours in. The roads were really windy and slippery and I had just finished eating the last food I had so I was hoping someone would come soon... there weren't many cars on the road because it was so rainy and it was Sunday but eventually I got picked up.

Sam told me a lot about weather patterns and New Zealand in general.