Hitchhiking in New Zealand: My Experience
Hitchhiking in New Zealand is legal, as safe as can be, and a relatively solid backpacker transport option.
My travels around New Zealand took on various form. I road-tripped with people I met on my travels, took buses for the solo trips incorporated later on and thrown into the mix were a few hitchhiking trips.
I never really took myself for a hitchhiker but sometimes it comes to that, especially in NZ where public transport (out-with cities at least) is sparse and expensive, and you feel like having a little ‘fun’.
I’m not really a big advocate for hitchhiking, however I also wouldn’t say to rule it out (when in NZ anyway). If you think about it, is it really much worse than jumping in a car with backpackers you just met in a hostel or on a Facebook group? Possibly a little, but the same concept of riding with strangers applies!
I’m not a pro hitchhiker, only actually having 3 different experiences of such, although this added up to 7 random cars in total. I never hitchhiked alone, and wouldn’t feel particularly comfortable doing so. I mean sure I’d do it if I really felt I had to but I definitely prefer to be with someone.
You have no idea who is going to offer you a lift or what the journey is going to entail, I guess that is the thrill of it. Every experience is so different, and certainly make the travels into more of an adventure (sometimes in a rather reckless sense…read on to see how).
My Hitchhiking Tales
First experience – Beginners luck + Being reckless:
Lake Tekapo – Christchurch
Round 1 – Beginners luck:
First time hitchhiking, LETS GO! It started off SO well. Before even making it to the spot we were heading to, where we would stick out our thumbs and show off our hitchhiking destination sign, we got offered a lift.
Buzzing that we hadn’t even made it to the point of stopping walking, or even making it obvious we were trying to hitchhike, we jumped in. Our destination was Christhurch, but we could get as far as Fairlie which was on the way, perfect. It was a good ride, we didn’t feel uncomfortable or anything. In the end this ride actually resulted in me moving to Lake Tekapo a few weeks later for a job, crazy, you never know what is going to become of a random ride!
Anyway, after being dropped off in Fairlie we waited, and waited. Moved to find a better spot, hid our bags to look like we had less stuff, but the beginners luck was fading. The majority of cars were heading in the opposite direction than we needed to go, driving in to the smaller towns as it was a holiday weekend.
Eventually, a car pulled over.
Round 2 – Being reckless:
The guy in the car asked where we were going, ‘Christchurch’, and so was he, BINGO.
We were just so glad to have a potential lift that we hopped right in.
Soon we realised we had made a mistake.
Did we ask to get dropped off elsewhere? No. Did we continue to put our lives in danger? YES.
I mean, the guy who picked us up was harmless, but also probably, definitely, should not have been driving. Telling us about his late night the previous night (plus early morning that morning) party antics, clearly function on a lack of sleep and well, one can only guess what else.
That’s not all that was a bit dodgy.. Every now and then we would pass police vehicles on the road, and you could sense the guy tense up each time they got closer.
At one point, he pulled over for a break. Fair, it was a long drive, especially as he had already been driving for hours beforehand. He seemed a little out of it so my travel mate offered to drive for a bit if he wanted (trying to save us, without making ourselves ditched on the side of a road to find another ride), which he ended up agreeing to after some thought. Obviously we didn’t think at this point hey, maybe we should abandon and find another ride. I mean actually I’m sure we thought it but where would be the fun in that?
Due to the car being a manual drive and the road sides being different than my travel mate was used to, it turned out I was better suited to the job of driving. Not that I had driven a manual in a year. Anyway, so I went to drive, and the good part came.. This was the first of us becoming aware he didn’t actually have a key to turn the ignition on, just a screwdriver. Normal, huh? Possibly a little, or more than a little, sketchy. I didn’t even know how to make the car start this way, why we didn’t make up an excuse and jump out for good at this point is beyond me. So, he started the car up with the screwdriver and off we rode, myself behind the wheel.
Everything was fine. We were safer now that I was driving, albeit a car whereby the ‘owner’ was not in possession of a key. Next thing, he lights up in the back, while he was already pretty out of it!
Then we got closer to Christchurch, and he started insisting he take over driving again. I was fine and felt safer with me driving than having him do so, but he explained that because the drivers door was bashed in (oh yeah, forgot to mention that one – it’s not like we could see it when he pulled over initially in Fairlie, only the passenger side visible to us.), the police might pull us over, so I probably did not want to be driving if so. With some consideration I obliged, having no desire to put myself in a worse position if we were to get pulled over.
Everything was fine, soon making it, safely, to our Chirstchurch accommodation, hallelujah!
It had been a bizarre experience overall. We thought about it all more, and realised hey, there is a good chance that car was actually stolen. I mean the screwdriver, hello hot wiring a car, how stupid could one be to not have realised that immediately. Or perhaps we were just so keen to get to our destination we let our minds bypass such a thought.
So yeah, I had, potentially, driven a stolen car for 1.5hrs or so. I guess we will never know for sure, and should have acted upon such a thought, but in a sense it felt like we were a part of it, so best to avoid any more involvement.
To top it off, the hostel we were staying in that night was called Jailhouse…coincidence?! Who knows!
Moral of the story: Do not get in the car with someone who is out of it, has no key just a screwdriver, a bashed in drivers door, and tenses up when police approach. Get out when it feels sketchy! We were fine, but I wouldn’t recommend to someone to stick out a ride such a this. We were literally just so happy we made it alive. How NOT to hitch-hike.
Makes for a good first time hitch-hiking story though!
Second Experience
This experience, along with my third one, was a lot less reckless and a little more ‘normal’, if any such hitchhiking trip can be described that way.
Christchurch – Akaroa
The crazy previous day experience hadn’t put us off hitchhiking, day two was upon us. Although this was just partly because there was no simple, cheap way to get to Akaroa, our next stop, from Christchurch on public transport.
Being on a time limit for our transport to our accommodation in Akaroa, it was a little stressful trying to hitch a ride on this occasion. After some time of failing, I walked to a corner shop and asked for a cardboard box to make a sign, the shop keeper more than happy to help. I no longer even felt weird about the standing on the side of the road trying to hitch a ride way of life..
EVENTUALLY
Round 1:
A group of Kiwi guys returning from a night out stopped, not realising we had so much stuff (tactics), causing for a very crammed ride. These guys were fun (not still out of it!), and thought our story from the previous day was pretty mad!
We made it short of half way to Akaroa before it was time to find the next ride, which didn’t take too long.
Round 2:
We hitchhiked with American guy who was heading to Akaroa for the day. This was a pretty standard ride to be honest, decent guy, nothing signigicant to report.
And in the end, it turned out perfect this day. We managed to hitchhike to Akaroa, not fearing our lives, arriving with about 20 minutes to spare before our scheduled ride to our accommodation!
Third Experience
Waipu – Paihia
After a road-trip day down to Waipu from Paihia with a couple of girls I met in my hostel that morning, myself and one of the girls hitchhiked back to Paihia. This was our only option as the girl with the car was continuing on to Auckland from Waipu.
So, we got dropped off at where looked a reasonable spot to catch a ride. With a simple piece of paper from a notebook as a sign we waited for some hitchhiking luck. It didn’t take too long before we got some.
Round 1:
A man had driven past us looking kind of interested in stopping, but alas he hadn’t stopped. Until he did a U-turn for us! Turned out he was simply curious as he claimed he never sees hitchhikers. We jumped in and off we went, in a brand new car he had just collected, NICE.
Round 2:
Another kiwi man where I honestly can’t recall anything too interesting happening.
Round 3:
An English woman on her travels offered us a lift this time. She was more shocked at herself for pulling over than anything else, feeling a sense of nostalgia for her younger travelling days when she made the spontaneous decision to drive us. Her destination was a hostel just over the road from ours, so it was perfect. I believe she feared us, or at least her own crazy instincts, more than we feared her!
To sum it up…
The excitement of hitch-hiking, which coincides with the danger of hitch-hiking : You just never know what you are getting yourself in for, or who you are going to meet. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes you fear for your life, sometimes you just get some interesting chats and nothing too crazy!
Be safe, trust your gut, don’t do anything stupid (like in my case)!!
