Dunedin and the hitchhiking hiatus

We made it into Dunedin in the morning and found the market which held within it a pearl of gastronomic vegan excellence, that is "The joyful vegan" which makes you second guess any preconceptions you may have had about an animal free diet being healthy. Dunedin, I must say is one of the more historically interesting cities in New Zealand, with much more old-european style architecture than the rest of the country. We met up with another old friend in the form of Sammy the funny french man as well as relatively new friends Came, Estel, Nikolaus and Manuel. Marion and I, along with our four new friends were graciously hosted by Caroline who showed us the world's steepest street! The following morning we toured the Otago peninsula in Caroline's car and saw seals and sealions and beautiful beaches.

Seal; McVegan; Sinclare beach

After filling our bellies with fast food, Marion and I hitchhiked to a campsite that was full of familiar faces. You can only really tour the South Island in one direction or the other I suppose. We spent some time on the beach with the French couple Came and Estelle, had some drinks with the various campers (probably about 20) and went to bed. The morning came, and we decided to start making our way north. The aforementioned Czechs Matej and Ondra (see a previous post) decided to take us that direction in convoy with the French and their German chauffeurs and a further German by the name of Lucas who had given Marion a crepe earlier that morning. Thus was formed the International Gypsey Family and the longest time out from thumbing began.

Fjords and sea and waterfalls

We lost Lars again that afternoon as we headed toward the Milford Sound (which is actually a fjord) from Bannockburn. We made it almost the whole 335 km. Our last lift, a German-Italian camped with us in a sand fly infested campsite. He took us to the entrance of the Homer tunnel so he could do a tramp in the area. The Kea kept us company and we only waited another couple of minutes for another German to pick us up and take us the rest of the way. The three of us did the Milford Sound cruise together - possibly my largest expense of the whole trip at $100 for the 2.5 hours. Definitely worth it for the views, meal and underwater museum. Our chauffeur took us back to the town of Te Anau where found a camp site nearby and had a family meal with our newly recovered Uri, Simon and Lars as well as a few more German girls.

Milford Sound

The following evening brought us (minus Lars, Uri and Simon) to the Clifden caves which we explored the following morning, totally at Marion's mercy as she was the only one who had a torch. Later we headed south and stopped in Riverton on the way to Lignite Pit - which is essentially a mine come garden that lets you camp on their land for $5. We only got to enjoy the sun for about half an hour before a foreboding cloud blocked out the whole sky - this was a bit of pathetic fallacy for things to come in the Catlins region.

Lignite Pit

The morning brought about lots of walking... until... we got picked up by a very familiar German called Jonasz who we'd met about seven months before in Auckland! And then more walking. There aren't a lot of people in the Catlins. So there's not a lot of cars. And not a lot of rides. To be perfectly honest, we only walked for another 8 km before we got a ride - not really so bad. After meeting some French, Germans and Czechs - who will become very important in about two posts - at a beach with Hector's Dolphins, we got very very stuck. Over an hour had passed and we hadn't seen any cars. We ended up knocking at the door of the first house we could find, which an elderly couple opened and graciously let us camp on their land for the night.

Beach where we saw Hector's dolphins... minus dolphins.

Unfortunately, the weather for the remainder of Marion's most highly anticipated region was a bit dissapointing, so we had a speedy tour with a couple of Swedes and an English girl in their swanky van,  through some rather pretty places (see below) before ending up just outside of Dunedin... sorely missing Lars.

Pretty places! Bad weather...

Back and forth

In Wanaka we found Lars again as well as the Israeli-German duo, Uri and Simon. We spent the next couple of days climbing mountains, eating ice cream and relaxing by the beautiful eponymous lake. On the advice of a Colombian runner, we transferred ourselves to the Luggate campsite situated on a cricket pitch with free hot showers!

Roy's Peak; Bannockburn festival; Mt Difficulty winery

 The first ride of the next day was from an Auckland lawyer by the name of Richard. After some lovely conversation and an historic tour of the town of Cromwell, Richard took us wine tasting in the Central Otago. Unable to go to his winery of choice, we ended up at Mt. Difficulty where I experienced the most expensive wine I'd ever tasted. My favourite was the 2013 Sauvignon Blanc. By the afternoon, we made it to Queenstown where we ended up spending $25 each to pitch our tents. Fortunately this gross expenditure was worth it as we met Immy - a welsh girl I'd met in Napier a few months before who invited us to a festival the next day in Bannockburn - back the direction we'd just come from. There were less than 1000 people there the whole day and our party of around ten were the only non kiwis. I stayed there all night and the awesome New Zealand policemen gave me a ride back to the campsite!

That seems like a good stopping point...

Wet wet wet... to Wanaka

The sun came with the morning in Westport and we made our way to the beach before thumbing our way south again. Our destination was Greymouth to get Lars's tent fixed. We hadn't gotten very far at around 7... our second lift did not take us to Greymouth, but instead to her friend's shack close to Fox River where we were to stay the night. My dear readership shall remember that about one month hence I was picked up south of Sydney and taken in by a young lady named Tamika. Who should it be that picked us up and took us in this time, one month later? Another Tamika. Coincidences are awesome. We got to know Ella (the 'owner' of the shack) and her two hitchhiking buddies. During the fire and a party on a private beach, Marion and I decided that Ella should come and flat with us in Auckland (spoiler alert: she's currently stroking a rescued cat in our flat - pretty well moved in) 

Adventures on the west coast

Tamika took us to the pancake rocks where we breakfasted in the morning before getting on course for Greymouth. The man who stopped for us was a pinnacle of kiwi hospitality and trust - he gave us the keys to his car to get ourselves 'settled' while he dashed to the loo. After about an hour of dramatic coastline we arrived in Greymouth, where Lars exchanged his tent and we gained Ricky, making us a quartet for the second time. To the famed glaciers we were destined! Despite my best efforts to keep us in pairs we managed to get a ride for all four of us in a lorry, with the two tag-alongs stowed in the back with the home-brewed detergents. Our campsite at the start of the glaciers greeted us with rain and new friends from Israel, Germany, France and the Netherlands. This region is particularly known for it's rain as we were to discover the following day. We got a glimpse of the smaller Fox Glacier but ran away by the afternoon - not before spotting our first Kea!

Adventures in the glaciers

With Ricky and Lars's departure and the addition of an American named Luke, we were again a trio. After a downpour, we (Marion) somehow managed to convince a Spanish woman by the name of Clara to take us to a campsite at Lake Paringa, where we got a mere glance at the lake before another downpour. The storm cleared by the morning and we drove and drove and drove, stopping in Port Jackson, at various gorgeous waterfalls and and finally, starved in Wanaka at 1630. We stuffed ourselves with (fish and) chips and parted ways. Clara needed to head on to Queenstown and Luke was staying at a friends. Marion and I found a cheap campsite by the river.

Waterfalls, mountains, Clara and Luke

Wellington and Walking

An early morning flight - which I nearly missed - took me from Gold Coast, Australia to New Zealand's capital. I was excited to be reunited with some friends I had made in Auckland before starting a month long hitchhiking adventure with Marion. Marion and I met up with Keven, our German Kamerad as well as Abigail - a friend from a long long time ago. We also ran into Romina, our Uruguayan amiga from the first week in New Zealand.Finally, we cruised back to our flatmate, Leighton's house for the night. We spent the weekend catching up on some much needed Zzzs and getting a taste of Wellington.

REUNIONS! Clockwise from top left: Marion and Keven; Abigail; Sleepy Leighton; Romina

Monday came, and we boarded an early morning ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton. Absolutely gorgeous day and stunning views. Marion slept through all of it though, I'm sure. We hadn't really planned anything out... maybe just decided in the general direction we wanted to go - so after lunch we formulated a plan;  let's walk the Heaphy track. So, my little hitchhiking apprentice and I got our first lift south-west-ish after less than half an hour. Marion was very excited about getting picked up! A few more lifts gave us

Lars makes three

another friend, in the form of the heavy-laden Lars from Germany, who was to become a long-term fixture. By the following morning, we were a trio on the way to the four-day Heaphy track. Actually for about three
hours we were a quartet. It took us eight hours that day to get to the start of the track. On the way we rode in a post van! So we walked about three hours - until it got dark and set up camp.
     Over the next three days we walked the remaining 70 km (50ish miles) through forest, Savannah, jungle and seashore, sleeping in our tent and trying to eating enough to replenish the calories we'd lost. It was beautiful and actually an easy walk by all accounts, but made exceedingly difficult by the weight of our packs. I have no idea how Lars did it with his 35 kg (77 lb), ill-fitting bag. The Weka were ever-present - greedy, cheeky little birds. We finished, exhausted and sand-fly bitten on the afternoon of the final day and a Dutch lady named Kathline took us to the thriving metropolis of Karamea, where some crazy hippy did a weird light treatment thing on my Chacras. I'm not sure whether it was the pseudo-science or the 6 bananas I ate that gave me bundles of energy.

Various faces of the Heaphy track.

    To end the walking chapter, we made it to the next bit of civilisation called Westport where it began to rain and we sought shelter in a hostel that charged us far too much to pitch a tent. Tomorrow was to be a new day, but tonight was to be for sleeping.

And back again

Opera house as viewed from ferry

After enjoying some quality time with the family, I decided to enjoy some quality time with some strangers for new years! I got to Sydney on new years eve eve and slept off the jetlag. I celebrated the new year by getting sunburnt in a park with about 100 couch surfers watching the famed fireworks, and making friends. For some reason, cities and me don't work so well. Especially in 40C heat. So, I thought I'd escape to the serenity of Manly beach on new years day. Ha! I've never been to a noisier place. My second attempt at finding somewhere peaceful took me to the blue mountains where I hiked for the day.

Backpackers on the beach

    After five days in the city I started on another hitchhiking adventure with my friend Devon from the internet. The plan was to head north together to the Gold Coast so I could catch my flight back to New Zealand. He has tonnes of hitchhiking experience under his belt. We started out of Sydney on the train in the evening aiming to find a place to camp on the edge of the city before sticking are thumbs out in the morning. Well the trains had a bit of a mishap so we spent our first night in a roundabout. A couple of lifts took us to South-West Rocks where we ate copious fruit, swam and camped on the beach. There were heaps of
      We took it slow the next morning and made it to Coff's Harbour where we were offered a trampoline to sleep on by Paul. Unsure whether to simply take up the offer or to keep going, we sat at a highway on ramp and played our harmonicas. Three different people pulled over to us half-hearted hitchhikers - the first two weren't going very far, but Kimberly offered to take us to her house in Woolgoolga to stay. Of course we said yes.

Stacey's house

     Well-fed and well rested, we set off again in the morning. I had three days left to get to Gold Coast and only about 200 km left... as such we ventured off into the woods and found a self-sustaining hippy community close to Grafton. We ended up staying on Stacey's land, and chilling out with her and her kids. She sent her on our way the following morning with fruit from her garden and feathers in our hair. After going inland to Nimbin with a funny Quebecoise called Alex, we were pushing it a little bit for getting to the airport by the following morning. Devon eventually left me so that I'd have a better chance of getting a ride. I arrived well after dark and camped outside the airport, ready to start the next chapter in my adventure.

Friends made on the way: Couchsurfers, Kimberley (+Devon), Stacey and the fam (+Devon)

The long way home

For my next installment, we hop across the Tasman sea to the land of shrimps on the barbie, Fosters and all
the animals that wanna kill you. I left from Auckland at the beginning of December, at ridiculous o'clock in the morning and arrived in Melbourne in the afternoon. I promptly spent too much on a bus ticket, made

Scenes from the great ocean road

myself feel ill with too much peanut satay and then rode a bike to my hostel. The city was pretty cool, but a massive shock after being in the wilderness in New Zealand for the past few days. I spent the next couple of days recovering to be honest. I also saw my friend Vilte from Lithuania who I met in Germany about four years ago. Ooooh and I met some penguins in St Kilda's!

      But after three days, I was ready for adventure to begin. I had some less than encouraging words from several people on my way out - "You'll never get a lift", "Ever seen wolf creek?" - but undeterred I took a train west, and stuck my thumb out. Literally the second car that passed me pulled over. Tatted up to the eyeballs, and swearing like a sailor but a lovely chap - this was my first lift  in Australia and my hundredth overall. My plan was to get at least some of the way along the great ocean road. On my way I encountered some policepersons just out of training (who gave me a lift) and about 10 cockatoos who tried to steal my lunch. By evening I got to the twelve apostles and had dinner with my ride - an Aussie and his Taiwanese lady friend. We feasted on chips and camped by the apostles.

Glimpse of Sydney

     For some reason I ended up in a hotel the following night - I'd made my way back east through Sydney. I woke up very confused. I think the staff were too. It was Friday now, 700 km to Sydney and a flight on Sunday. After a few rides, I was almost there! In Ulladulah, a car pulled over with two girls my age, "Are you a serial killer?" asked one. I reassured them that I was pretty harmless and hopped in. Due to inclement weather, I ended up staying at Tamika (remember this name) and Melissa's place... which I had to break into after a night in Ulladulah. I enjoyed having a bed, but was out of there by 8 the following morning.
     Midday on Saturday brought me to Wollongong, where I found Michal - the chef from Snails! I was now about 80 km outside of Sydney and was excited for my second reunion of that day... I found Sarah from school. We adventure-swapped and explored the city that night. After less than 24 hours in Sydney, I was on a plane to the cold winds of Oklahoma. All in all, traveling from Auckland to my parent's house took over a week. Adventuring was to take a break for a couple of weeks as I visited family, recovered from jet-lag and getting ill.

Old friends, new friends