Hitchhikers guide to... New Zealand

My plan, before even coming to New Zealand, had been to travel here only by hitchhiking. Not only Tim (whom I met in Borneo and who gave me soooo many useful advices for New Zealand - thanks for that again!) told me that it was really easy and cool to hitch in New Zealand, but also other travellers I met in Australia said exactly the same thing. So that's why I wanted to travel by hitchhiking initially... But well well, after some really poor attempts of hitchhiking in the North island, I nearly gave it up... 

Poor attempts? 

Hitching #1 - Auckland-Rotorua (230km) - FAIL

From Auckland I wanted to hitch to Rotorua. I found a great spot: next to the entrance to the motorway, where it was still easy for cars to pull over... However, after nearly an hours of waiting with heaps of cars passing, I gave up and took a bus.

But well, hitching out of Auckland is really difficult: it is too big a city and most of the cars taking the motorway are simply going to other parts of the town.  

Hitching #2 - Rotorua-Taupo (81km) - FAIL

I was much better prepared for my next attempt: I had a big sign saying "Taupo", where I wanted to hitch to. However, I was still too close to the center (lazy me, I didn’t want to walk out…) - so same again: most of the cars passing by went somewhere else in town and didn't even leave Rotorua. What is more: after half an hour of standing around with my nice sign a Maori guy came over to tell me these highly encouraging words: “You know what happened to the last girl who hitched? She ended up dead! You shouldn’t hitch alone! It’s a dangerous country, man!”
Oh well, fair enough. To be honest, the boring waiting alone and this comment made me finally giving up hitching… at least in the North.

However, I couldn’t let go… So many people I met afterwards in hostels in Napier and Queenstown had been hitching all the way through. And when travelling with Ricky we saw quite some hitchhikers too. So yes, I HAD TO give it another try!

Hitching #3 - Queenstown - Glenorchy (46km)

Which I did: after arriving in Queenstown I gave it another shot and I didn't give up too early: First I hitched from Queenstown to Glenorchy with Danielle, a girl from Germany I knew from the hostel. Getting there was a pain though! After one hour of waiting while I don’t know how many cars passed by a nice woman from England, who's guiding horse-trekking tours in the region, finally gave us a ride to Glenorchy.

The road to Glenorchy is one of the best drives in New Zealand: along the lake with stunning views of the lake and the bordering mountains! Great! The woman even stopped at one lookout point so we could take photos of the landscape.

Hitching #4 - Glenorchy - Queenstown (46km)

We walked around Glenorchy and took heaps of photos. It is just an amazingly beautiful place. Glenorchy is a really tiny village though so we really wondered how we would get back - there are not really that many cars going out of town. But hey: on the way back the third car took us after not even 10 minutes! Great :)

A kiwi couple of our age, who were also visiting the area picked us up. So we stopped again at the same and other lookout points along the really beautiful road back to Queenstown.

Hitching #5 - Queenstwon - Te Anau: (171km)

The next day I felt ready to start my big mission: hitching from Queenstown to Te Anau. 
And I made it there in 4hours - waiting time: approx. 1h45min

#5.1 - Queenstown - Frankton: (7km)

What a day, cold and misty - definitely not a day you want to spend standing on the side of a road... Luckily I got my first lift after a few minutes (third car): a kiwi guy from the area on the way to his job, where he planned to resign that very day. He said he usually hitches a lot too, and tends to pick up hitchhikers as often as he can.

#5.2. Frankton - Intersection Highway 6 / 94: (100km)

There I was stuck for nearly 2 hours while I don’t know how many cars passed… 
God, how annoying! And the weather being shit didn't help. I was about to give up, when a VW-bus pulled over. A kiwi guy, 21 years old, rasta. He studies outdoor-activities in Greymouth (hell, these studies are just perfect in this adventure-oriented country!) and was on his way to visit his parents in Invercargill. He grew up on a sheep-farm so he told me a lot about sheep ! New Zealand, the country of sheep!

He told me how much you get for sheering a sheep (on average 1,60NZD, can be up to 2,60NZD). A friend of his was sheering around 200 sheep per day, which is apparently pretty good for somebody who just learned it. He himself is more specialised on crutching lamb though (0,45NZD/lamb) and can crutch up to 1000 lambs per day! wow wow!!
What? Not interesting? Well, I thought it was!

He took me all the way to the intersection with the route to Te Anau. These 100km with him were definitely a nice ride.

#5.3. - Intersection Highway 6 / 94 - Te Anau: (77km)

Then I couldn’t even get my nicely prepared sign out of my bag when the next car already pulled over for me: an around 70 year old man offered me a lift. He told me a lot about his life back in Africa, when he and his wife used to feed wild animals in their home. No joke! He showed me photos, when we offered me tea in the local café just after we arrived in my destination Te Anau. However, now he is living in New Zealand, and since his wife died a couple of years ago he passes his days driving around offering hitchhikers a lift. He can’t stand staying in his empty house, where everything reminds him of his wife…

Yes, you do get to hear different stories when hitching.

Hitching #6 - Te Anau - Milford Sound (118km)

I don't even have photos of Te Anau - winter is off season and this city is simply dead. Furthermore the weather was - as mentionned - really bad: a lot of fog and mist, slight rain. Not nice indeed.

My project for the next day was really challenging indeed: hitching the whole way from Te Anau to Milford Sound and from there all the way back to Queenstown. Milford Sound is a fjord, where you could take scenic cruises - more or less the only reason to go there. Even though I was standing at the only road leading there, the probability of getting a lift quickly was pretty low: It was off-season, so the traffic going there was pretty low. Apart from these scenic cruises for tourists, there is not much more happening in Milford Sound. But tourists don't usually take hitchhikers in their rented cars. Most of them get there by bus anyway.

It was cold, and misty... and after one hour I had enough and started to walk back to the center, when one car pulled over: an Australian couple, on their way to Milford Sound for a scenic cruise, had seen me hitching and when they saw me walking back were wondering if  I still wanted to go there. Hey, that was great! I was so lucky! We had a nice talk on the way there and stopped on many lookout points on our way.

Hitching #7 - Milford Sound - Queenstown (286km)

In Milford Sound we joined the same cruise (the guy even managed to get me a discount on the cruise). I was so surprised: in Te Anau the weather had been sooo bad, and in these fjordlands a deepblue sky and sunshine welcomed us! The best weather for the nice cruise indeed.

I was really lucky with the Australian couple: as they were driving back to Queenstown after the cruise anyways, I went there with them too. Wohoo, jackpot!!

Hitching #8 - Queenstown - Airport Frankton (7km)

Two days later I was about to leave Queenstown and head back to Auckland. Hitching to the airport sounds kind of risky, because if you don't get a ride you might miss your flight. But one of the easiest hitches is definitely Queenstown to Frankton. Like the first ride when hitching all the way to Te Anau, I got a ride after only a few minutes. A kiwi guy drove me to Frankton straigth to the airport.

One of the typical things offered in adventure-oriented New Zealand are scenic flights. The landscape and the mountains, especially in the South, are so beautiful that flying over it must really be beautiful. But as a low-budget-traveller you would usually not spend your money on scenic flights. I was really lucky therefore that my regular flight turned out to be much like a scenic flight: the weather on the day I flew out of Queenstown was simply perfect: when we were flying over the mountain ranges close to Queenstown we were still pretty low so I had the chance to take an endless amount of photos. It was really fascinating! 
And this time I saw Mount Cook (yesssss, gotcha!)

After watching this short clip of my "scenic flight" you will want to check out my new gallery as well covering the amazingly beautiful Southern island of New Zealand (including many photos from this very flight).

Landing in Auckland I had the chance to take a photo of this aircraft painted all black with "crazy for rugby" written on its sides. Got me straight into the perfect mood, as one of the last things to do here in New Zealand was to watch a rugbymatch and see the haka live!

I was really really lucky that the all blacks were actually playing test matches against Ireland while I was in New Zealand. And the last out of the three test matches was about to come up in Hamilton, just 2hours South of Auckland - and I got a ticket to watch it! Wohoooo

This time I didn't even bother hitching out of Auckland and bought a bus ticket straight away.

I had found a great CS-host in Hamilton, who also intended to go to the match with all his friends - perfect!! After preparing for the match - painting the all blacks logo in my face, and the faces of all the other girls and drinking heaps of beers - we made it to the match!

I still remember the first time I have seen a match with the all blacks years ago. And seeing them I had said to myself that once in my life I want to see their famous haka live! And now I did!! Guash, that was amazing! So loud and powerful, simply breathtaking! (Sorry that the video is a quite shaky, but I only held the camera while watching the haka)

Seeing such a big professional team live, although a more balanced game would have been more interesting, was definitely a great experience and I enjoyed every minute of it!
More balanced? Well, Ireland got devestated: they lost 60:0!
60:0, can you believe that!! That's the biggest defeat in test-match history...
But it was not boring, no way! The tries were thrilling and great to watch, Ireland was fighting hard and had quite a few chances too, simply couldn't carry them through. So even though I was cheering for the all blacks I would have wanted the Irish to score at least once. But, man, why the hell did you guys play so terribly bad while one week earlier you'd nearly beaten the all blacks?!

I have seen many rugby matches in my life: mostly games of the Austrian league live and games of the last two world cups or the 6 nations on TV in Shebeen. I have always loved sports emotions: when a big crowd is cheering and shouting for the same team, getting all crazy when their team won and really angry when they lost. (Ps: yes, this photo shows a try... or it would have shown one, if the fan didn't jump up in front of me... well, sport emotions...)

The stadium was packed with a great crowd - just watch the video of the wave going through the stadium to have an idea of the atmosphere. (I loved how all the plastic beerbottles learned to fly...)

Hitching #9 - Hamilton - Auckland (126km)

After the game we all went out - and we were not alone! Hamilton was packed, what a crazy night out!! Lot of people, lot of drinks... and that much slower was the next morning. After a long morning with delicious bacon and eggs - repair breakfast - I hit the road again: hitching back to Auckland.

That was easy: after quite many cars but only 10min a car with 2 kiwi guys pulled over. Both had been at the match the day before too (they had been cheering for Ireland though) and both were quite hangovered too and did regret the last Jägermeisters they had...
Haha, what a great weekend!!!

So how is it then to hitchhike and why couldn't I let go?!

I guess, what I like about hitchhiking is the same thing I like about Couchsurfing: you meet locals, or people living in the very country you travel. If I didn't hitch a bit, I wouldn't have met many kiwis in the end! So that was great! 

Hitching is much more communicative than taking a bus. Of course I could have talked to the people on the bus, but I never did. Everybody sits in his own seat, or row, and nobody is interested in meeting other people. However, when you hitch you will of course start to talk with your driver.

There is of course also the Überraschungsei-Effekt: you never know, what you get! That's great! I mean, you look into the car that has pulled over for you and of course, you can always reject a ride if the guy looks dodgy. But most of the time the people pulling over for hitchhikers are really nice, openminded and easy going as well - and most of them use or used to hitch by themselves too. So in the end, you quite probably end up with people, who have a similar mindset: drivers pulling over for hitchhikers most likely believe that people are generally good and won't do you any harm - same believe is the case for hitchhikers.

The concept is similar to Couchsurfing: I am paying rent anyways, why shouldn't a stranger come over and stay at my place for free for a few nights: I help him and at the same time I meet a new and maybe really interesting person.

Hitchhiking: I am going somewhere anyways, why shouldn't I take a person, who wants to go in the same direction with me? I might have some really nice conversations, meet an interesting person and in the end I will have helped somebody.


All good?! Of course not...

Standing on the side of the road is kind of awkward I admit, and the thoughts you have are weird too: you shouldn't really care, what people in the cars driving past think about you: they don't know you, will never see you again and after 2 seconds will already have forgotten you anyways. But still I often wondered, what they might think of me: why is she standing here? Why is she not taking a bus? And especially in my situation: why the hell, as a girl, is she hitching alone, even though everybody knows how dangerous this is?

But it is not only awkward, standing at the road alone, it is quite boring as well - at least until you get a ride. When I was hitching with Danielle, even though we waited an hour to get to Glenorchy it was nice to have somebody to chat with. Waiting 1,5h alone in Frankton and in Te Anau was simply annoying and a pain, no other word for that!

What is more, I do admit that even though hitchhiking is really common here, especially on the South island, some people still tend to react weirdly when you tell them that you plan to get somewhere by hitchhiking. And of course you will often hear the common stories of girls, who have been raped or killed...

But after all, I am still of the opinion that I wouldn't get anywhere in life, if I was always refrained by the risks some actions include - you have to weight the risks and decide. And in New Zealand, because it is so common here, I decided to hitch despite the risk. And as I said before: if somebody's dodgy, you simply shouldn't accept the ride.

However, to make some people happy, who now may be really worried for me: no worries guys!! I don't plan to hitch in other countries.

But reading Jack Kerouacs book "on the road" at the moment I am really inspired for a certain trip some day in the future: hitching with somebody through the US - who's in??

OZ = NZ... no way!

After 2,5 months in Australia and 1 month in New Zealand, I can tell you one thing: Yes, we Europeans tend to pigeonhole them together. And when travelling to Australia, you might as well try to see New Zealand too as both are simply far away. But that's about it when it comes to similarities.

These two countries are completely different - landscapewise and climatewise.

The people are different too: both are quite easy going, however Aussies are definitely more open and you could much easier start talking with them. And I reckon they are more positive as well (nobody ever told me how dangerous Australia was, but so many Kiwi told me how dangerous their country was). I thought that their way of naming geography also shows a bit about this difference: whereas you'll find the town "Surfers Paradise", the "Gold coast", the "Great Ocean Road", and other really positive names in Australia, you'll find "Doubtful Sound", "Mount Hopeless", "Mount Difficulty" in New Zealand. Ok, ok, they also have the Mountains "Invincibles" and "Remarkables" - but in general I was rather surprised by negative names...

And last but not least: the accent of them is completely different. You gotta get used to a different "a" in Australia, mate ;) [mayt] while in New Zealand you might get used to again another "a", man [men]!

oh, well, what should I say, nothing goes over some small rivalries between countries, right?! Great for jokes -and comedians: here you have it all! Kiwis best comedians presenting the Aussies vs. Kiwis conflict, and if you listen carefully you'll hear what I meant with the different accents.

So, to end this really long story, and my trip to New Zealand, I leave you with these great comedians: the flight of the conchords! They are simply FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY!! If you don't feel like wanting to watch all episodes of their TV-series (which you should, but well) check at least this song - you'll end up wanting to see the episodes afterwards, it is highly addictive!!

So enjoy, and cheers bro!