Having hitchhiked in various places around the world, I’ve collected a few interesting hitchhiking stories.
But whenever I post my hitchhiking adventures on Instagram stories, it’s the details about the people who pick me up that people are most interested in.
So have you wondered who it is that picks up hitchhikers? I’ve detailed a bunch of those in this post.
And because memories fade over time I’m writing this for me, as I am for you.
If you’d like to know more about hitchhiking in New Zealand, this post will help you out.
SHORT HITCHHIKING STORIES AND BIO’S
* I change the names of the people below and keep some destinations vague where appropriate (eg. West Auckland, rather than Piha).
1. They were two guys from America who were camping around the North Island. They had gone to Whangamata to pick up some supplies for their campsite about 20km away. They’d be in New Zealand for a couple of weeks, but the forecast was indicating lots of rainfall coming up so they had just booked a flight to New Caledonia which was five days away. Then they’d head to Brisbane and Bali before heading home. Sounded like they were from America’s West Coast. One had lived in NZ for four years previously.
2. Allen is from West Auckland and had come down to Whangamata for the day to visit his friend. The perks of being retired. He was looking forward to his vacation in February in Mangawhai, which he found funny as they vacation less now that they’re retired. He likes driving so the 5 hour round trip to visit his friend was no drama at all and he said he should do it more often than a handful of years he does at the moment.
3. Bob has worked in various capacities at Fonterra for 30 years. From Monday to Friday he stays in South Auckland with a family member from Monday to Friday, before driving down to Whitianga where he has a house for the weekend. His wife works at a pharmacy in Whitianga and he said when he comes back if feels like she knows everyone so enjoys introduced to her new friends. And although they don’t go often, the Irish Pub in Whitianga feels like coming home to the family as everyone is so nice and chatty there. The weekends fly by for him, but he doesn’t regret staying in Auckland during the week, away from his wife, for the time being. Afterall some of his colleagues commute daily from Tauranga which he said sounds like the worst thing in the world.
4. In a red van, ~60-year-old Barry sleeps in his van. He had a quiet voice, and wasn’t interested in any chit chat but seemed like a nice guy who knew where to drop me off to get my next ride.
5. “I love your shirt, I’m a crazy cat lady,” said the girl with pink hair in the driver’s seat. The two friends in their early 20’s had driven past me two minutes earlier but turned around and to pick me up. I thought I was in for a big cat chat, but like the driver above they didn’t want to chat much. They were talking up the front, well she was mostly, he didn’t say much. She was driving and was drinking a cup of coke from KFC, while also changing the music on her phone every couple of minutes (mostly nightclub type music). It’s clear she has driven the route lots of times, but regardless I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous with her concentration not 100% on the road at times.
The amount of doubts you have when hitchhiking is insane.
6. Drake was a walking cliche in some respects. A man who has worked on ranches for most of his life, he grew up in the USA and was sporting a mustache and cowboy had. Cliche! He was a super nice guy and has been living in the Waikato for about 20 years, though he hasn’t taken on the Kiwi accent at all. He was super excited to talk about his daughter who had recently started to enjoy running and had done well at it in school events.
7. Two French backpackers living in a van while on a working holiday to practice their English. They initially wanted to go to Australia but chose New Zealand because everyone they knew had been to Australia and they wanted to get away from the French. Little did they know, they’d find no shortage of French in NZ too 🙂 They’ve loved the North Island so far, although they found it funny when they were working in Kerikeri that they couldn’t really practice English as they would fall into speaking French with other backpackers.
8. Tom with dreadlocks had been at his mates 30th birthday the night before. Living in the Waikato as a manager, he doesn’t love his job but knows if he can tough it out for two months the experience will be invaluable. He does love to surf so was heading to Hot Water Beach for a morning surf. Has hitchhiked across Mexico over a few months and a little around BC and always tries to pick people up when in NZ.
9. This was hilarious! A married couple (~30 years old), the guy was incredibly hungover in the front seat (was wearing sunglasses). We pulled over because he needed to vomit haha. They stopped in Tairua but picked me up again as I hadn’t been collected. They’d been at a wedding the night before and this was just the third time they’d spent a night away from their 18-month-old baby who was still in Auckland staying with grandparents. Dad was not looking forward to the Santa photoshoot later in the afternoon! She loves her recruitment job.
10. Aoife is a 45-55-year-old Irish girl who has lived in Ireland, Scotland, England and now New Zealand. Says she usually moves places every 6 months as she gets bored easily. She had come down to Coromandel for the weekend, and loves tramping but was going to meet a friend in Whangamata for the day. Her preferred weekend getaway spot from Auckland is Whangarei Heads. She was excited to do two of the great walks over Xmas and New Years but was regretting her lack of training in the lead up to December.
A truck full of Christmas trees picked me up!
11. These two were the cliche of hippies. I’m pretty sure they’re a couple, but the girl was a mum to a 2-year-old but the guy wasn’t the kid’s dad. But he seemed to get along with the kid just fine. They had been to Whangamata for a weekend of camping so it was kind of weird to know I was sitting on the bed in the back of the van that they might well have had sex on hours (minutes?) earlier. Anyway, my main goal was to not put my shoes on the covers while they chatted about hippy communities. It’s weird to think there are off the grid communities around the country. I found it funny how these communities have the same problem as a regular society with people not getting along with each other, tasks not being shared evenly and the like.
12. As he pulled over, he nearly took out a road sign thanks to the Christmas trees bulging out the side of the truck. A local lad, he had started his shift at 4 am in the morning which involved driving up to Auckland to load up with Christmas trees to be sold in the Bay of Plenty. He would work super long shifts, which usually involved two rounds of trips but given it was hourly work three days a week he had lots of free time still. It was just a short term gig over the holidays as he’d recently graduated in Engineering and was starting work with a nationwide company next month. He was super into health and fitness but wanted a solid career option to fall back on if he didn’t succeed when switching to pursuing a health-related career in a few years.
13. Rich picked me up in Katikati on his way home from a shift at a kiwifruit orchard where he is a supervisor. This was a job he worked in previously but had just started back here again after his career change finished suddenly. He’d made the switch to the concreting industry a few years ago, but an accident at a go-kart track resulted in a compound fracture in his back. This meant no more working with heavy materials (concrete) so he returned to the kiwifruit orchard which he doesn’t mind as it’s very social. He recently started dating a girl from overseas who didn’t speak a lot of English, but was surprised at their connection and was hopeful for a long future with her.
14. She (local lady in her 50’s) had just driven down to Otaki to drop her friend off who didn’t have access to a car. She didn’t mind the 25-minute drive each way to do that, but she was a little annoyed that the friend had initially asked to take her to Whanganui which is a 3-hour minimum return trip. She’d recently been off work as she’d been in hospital (not sure what for), but her recent check-up went well and she’d be back to work soon enough.
15. A good man raised in the Hawkes Bay picked me up. He’s been living in Auckland for a few years now, always working in the transport industry. He was heading back to the Hawkes Bay for a family members 21st that weekend and wasn’t planning to go via Rotorua, but he did so he could drop me there. Legend! We talked about some Euro travels, but he was super knowledgeable about history and the constitution and while a lot of it is over my head it was super interesting. There was some weird stuff that I need to research further as I’m not sure if I have to pay back my student loan now. Why? In theory, I’ve already paid for it as I’m a creditor of the Governments? It sounds hokey pokey as I type this, but with the right documents, I can prove this.
Sitting in the back of the car, with talks of hippy communities up front.
If you have any stories of your own, do share in the comments below!
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Hey, it’s Jub here. I’m the guy behind Chur New Zealand, helping you have the best time hiking, trekking, walking…whatever you want to call it…in NZ. I’m based in Queenstown and am always out and about exploring trails, old & new. If you have any questions, reach out.