The Book of Ashes

Hitching back from Queenstown to Wellington... 1:38AM

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Well not the whole galaxy, maybe just a little part of it, say Queenstown to Picton...

Sunday was a beaut day for hitching. Nice and warm with plenty of sun. I started off at around 8:30 in the morning and it went a little something like this...

The farmer/hunter

Your typical big stocky, shaved head, farmer type dude. He picked me up from Queenstown and took me 20kms down the road to Gibston (the middle of no-where). He did a bit of farming on the side and took hunting tours. He said people overseas were getting into bows and arrows to hunt dear and he thought spear hunting would be a good idea. Fuck me that would definitly be hard!

The family car

From Gibston I was picked up in an old car by this cool chick with dreads and her two beautiful daughters and their golden lab which sat at my feet. She was real cool, real relaxed and had a cool acent. Her daughters were also very cute. They kept breaking into song (they were only about 5 and 3 yrs old) and would say stuff like ""Mum! I just touched the back window!"" or ""Mum, Hannah is taking her seat belt off. I'll watch her for you if she does it again."". I got dropped off just before Cromwell by these guys and by this stage I almost wanted to settle down and start a family.

The lonely guy

I had walked about a K down the road before another dude picked me up. He took me about 5kms to the other side of Cromwell from wence I could hitch and told me all about what he did and what he was doing this week. I think he really needed some company. He was nice enough though.

The cyclists

Outside Cromwell I struck it lucky. I got a ride within 15mins all the way to Christchurch, some 300+ kms. I was picked up by these two cool people who had just been in a cycling race around Banockburn (near Cromwell). The chick was the NZ campion for her age group. I got on pretty well with these guys and we talked heaps about life and stuff. Along the way I realised something was a little odd between them. They were asking each other too many questions. I finally worked out they were not a couple as they didn't know enough about each other. Along the way we say Mrs Periwinkle (a cool hippy bus) with the license plate UI4 (with little words inbetween so it read U and I 4 ever). Nice one hippies!

The local

At Christchurch I got a sore arm holding it out. I was on a busy road with most people just going around the city and not out of it. There were always cars there so my arm was constantly out. I eventually got a ride with a cool, relaxed local guy (about my age) to the outskirts of Christchurch.

The van full of Christains

It didn't take long before a van pulled over full of people. I thought cool, a whole group of travellers, but no, a father and all his nuns. They were real nice tho and took me another 20kms out of Christchurch, talking to me the whole way. The nun in the back was actually quite cute...

The man from Amsterdam

Ok so I got dropped off at the same spot I had previously been dropped off at (last time I did this) and it was a suck spot, at a cross roads but on a 100km zone so people don't like to slow down and stop for you. It was getting late by now, 5pm and I was thinking I wouldn't make it. Eventually a campervan pulled over and I got picked up by this dude from Amsterdam. He had just flown into Chch that day and was driving up to Kiakora to swim with the dolphins, see the seals, etc. He was pretty cool and we discussed the drug scene overseas (he'd just been to sydney which he really rated) and I told him about the cool places to visit in NZ. Come 7:30 we arrived in Kiakora and it was just starting to get dark.

Hitching continued. Sleeping in Picton for the night. 1:51AM

The nice strange guy

So there I was stuck in Kiakora again just as it was getting dark. Last time the same thing had happened and I'd had to sleep on the beach. I probably sat there for an hour before a car pulled over quite far behind me. It didn't reverse back or signal for me so I assumed it wasn't for me. It was a bit weird tho. After 15 mins of sitting behind me it did a U'ie and came back and picked me up. The guy said he'd been eating his fish and chips but to tell the truth it all looked a bit dodgey. I hopped in anyway and we took off. The guy was a bit ecentric and talked about everything. He was nice though and was heading up to Blenheim. We ended up discussing philosophy and everything and he offered to take me all the way up to Picton which was pretty generous. So come 10pm I arrived in Picton. It was dark and all the ferries had left for the night so I hit the pubs for a few quiet drinks.

So at midnight the pub closed down and I headed out to the park to find a nice park bench to sleep on. It was pretty cold and the new metal park benches just suck the heat out of you. Also everytime I heard a noise (leaves dropping, birds moving about, a cat, there were plenty of noises) I'd look up and see these two statues, one of micky mouse and one of donald duck. They were fucking scary at night, let me tell you. I eventually moved to a small wooden bench in a gazebo in the centre of the park and lay down to rest. I was hoping to catch the 5:30am ferry across the next morning. Then some time after 1am I heard some voices. I looked up and these two kids came over and found me. I asked them what they were up to and they said the same as me. They were this 19yr old dude and his 15yr old chick. She had gone to his place cause of troubles at home then his parents had kicked them out cause they were scoring and she was under age. Shite. So we chatted for a while and they smoked a bit of pot then they moved over to this big plastic sphere thing with ladders and tunnels in it and slept in that. Next morning I got up early but the ferry terminal was closed so couldn't buy a ticket for the early ferry. I ended up catching the 1:30pm ferry home at normal prices. Bugger. Anyway I arrived home last night and now am catching up on mail, emails, and many other small tasks. All is good though, it was a great holiday.

I forgot to mention the cows. When I stopped at Gibston I was next to this paddock of cows. They all grouped together into one big group when they saw me and just stared at me the whole time. If I stamped my foot they'd turn and run away then slowly come back, all the time staring at me. I don't know why cows are scared of humans, cause they weight 5 times as much and could bowl us over pretty easily. Specially a whole heard of 20 of them. Fuck I should be scared of them. But why were they starring?

Hitchhiking tips

Dress clean and tidily, don't wear beanies or leather jackets or anything that makes you dodgey. Have a backpack with you so you look like you're hitching, some people don't stop unless you have a backpack. Smile, look interesting and motivated. Choose a good place to hitch from. Usually the outskirts of a town is good so you only get people going out of the town (not inter-town travelling) and before the 100km zone, 50km is good. Don't travel alone if you're female. Walking can help. I advocate walking as a car comes past then moving back when they're gone and waiting till another comes then start walking again. Looks like you're trying... Also wear your backpack, even if you're standing still. It makes you look more like you need a lift.