I hadn't planned on hitching when I got to NZ. I really hadn't planned on anything. How would I get around? "Eh, I'll figure out when I get there." In the U.S., hitching usually doesn't work out very well, as people are generally suspicious. That isn't the case in NZ. Women often hitch alone and I haven't heard of any problems.
Almost all of my traveling would be done by hitching. When I started hitching I was with Sal and Gareth and it was the only way to get where we were going. That first day it took me a while to get a ride. Sal remarked, "Oh, it never takes me more than five minutes to get a ride." I'm not surprised. Sal will hitch in a short dress with no bra, getting picked up by women who say, "I didn't want to see you get picked up by a weirdo."
Over time I really came to like hitchhiking. Sometimes it got frustrating if it took me more than 45 minutes to get a ride, but over time I learned patience and to enjoy the views to the horizon and the blue skies as I waited. I've mentioned that I never knew what travel would bring me and it was the same with hitching. I never knew who would pick me up and what their story would be. People who pick up a hitchhikers want some company and are quite friendly. In four months of hitching, I didn't have a single ride where I found the person to be anything but likeable. I came to look forward to getting out on the road and putting my thumb out. On my round-the-world trip I'll be going back to NZ to see a few friends and do a few tracks. I look forward to these things, but I also look forward to hitchhiking again.
As I write this I sometimes think that I'm being melodramatic about it, but I really do look back at it nostalgically. Sometimes I even get butterflies in my stomach when I think of it. Most of the time I was hitching alone. When I was with Rob and Valerie, they generally hitched as a pair. The best times that I had hitching were with Valerie. I really enjoyed it. It was a time to talk or sit quietly together. Whatever it was, it was great. We switched off who would hold their thumb out, but I always thought she should be the one. Who do you think would get picked up easier? Some guy named Mr. Moose or a pretty, petite blond woman?