On the Road Again

After four months of being in Australia, and the stability of having a roof over my head in Kooloobong, it is now time for me to travel... After a long day of goodbyes and see you laters, I left Wollongong at 9pm on a Saturday night, arriving in Sydney Airport around two hours later. I found a spot to settle for the night, but was soon told to move on because they were closing this section of the airport.. This happened two more times.


One of these times, I'd sat next to a lovely looking French girl. Unfortunately her English wasn't great, so communication was sparse. I tried my hardest to recall my GCSE French skills, but to no avail... I spent five minutes trying to convince her that 'ecouter' meant to study, when of course it means to listen... "I listen in Wollonong!" She must have thought I was mental. Shortly after this we were moved on, and I saved myself the embarrassment of getting lost in translation again by pretending to lose her in the moving crowd of people (shameful, I know, but I was tired and couldn't handle the humiliation!).

Six hours of drifting in and out of sleep passed slowly, and every time I woke up, I was surrounded by a different group of people - disorientating to say the least. By 6am I'd had enough of spooning my rucksack on a cold, hard floor and decided to wait in line to check in... three hours later, and I was on the plane! (I do sometime think how absurd it is for humans to put themselves into long metal tubes thousands of metres in the air...)

I would now like to take a moment to talk about the in-flight entertainment - mainly the film I watched, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II. I had not watched this film before I boarded the plane, and I now WISH I'd gone and seen it on a big screen. After the last fifteen years of my life being dominated by a fictional boy, the series had finally come to an end, and what an end it was! Tears were genuinely streaming down my face at some points (eg, when Prof McGonagall stood up against Snape, and when Neville stood up against Voldemort) - I'm pretty sure the air hostesses were debating asking whether or not I was okay, but I didn't care... Until they decided to switch off the in-flight entertainment system twenty minutes before the end of the film!! I suppose I know what happened anyway, but it would have been nice to see it haha.

Landing in Auckland, I wanted to look outside and see how beautiful it is, but I couldn't, because the man next to me was asleep against the window... Despite this, I still got a great first impression of New Zealand. Everyone I met at the airport gave me a smile. The woman at customs even taught me how to say the words in the address I was heading to (eg, Waingaro = wayne-aerrro, and Ngaruawahia = now-rrrou-ah-wahia... 'ng' is pronounced 'ny' and they roll their r's). This really put me in a good mood, and I felt ready to start my hitch hiking adventure to the Earthship!

I'd heard that the best place to hitch a ride south from Auckland airport was the Shell petrol station just outside. I went to the petrol station just outside and tried there for a while. Everyone I asked seemed to be going north. I was very confused, but then one of the staff came outside and made me realise the error of my ways by pointing me in the direction of another petrol station just down the road (the Shell one...). Shortly after arriving, I got a lift to the start of the highway (about 15 mins from where I was) from an indigenous couple called Naa and Susan. They were telling me about how they met on Cook Island when they were little and have been together ever since (awww). They also kindly offered me a place to stay if I ever find myself back in Auckland again! I'm sure I'll be taking them up on this offer soon.

Naa and Susan

Within fifteen minutes I'd got my next lift from a father and son combo called Jamie (father) and Chaz (son). The window next to where I was sat was jammed open, so the win was rushing into my face (it's like I was skydiving again, but far less exciting). On top of this, they were playing some kind of gangster rap/reggae fusion at full volume. Conversation was limited to lip reading, but I was finding it difficult to keep my eyes open with all the wind blowing in my face! They proceeded to drop me off on the side of a motorway. Crap. First rule of hitching - never hitch on a motorway. I panicked, got out of the car, thanked them, and watched them speed into the distance. I guess all I could do was stand there, and hope someone would be kind enough to pick me up!

An hour and a half had passed, and the only people who payed any attention to me were groups of people in camper vans who waved at me, or groups of Asians on bus tours who took pictures. I thought it was game over. I wondered over to a nearby cow farm to see if I could beg someone for a lift, or even give them some money. They couldn't help, but he did tell me about a better hitching spot on the nearby expressway (different from a motorway, and more importantly, less illegal to hitch from!). I wondered down, and still no one stopped for me. I decided to walk along the road in the hopes of finding a service station to stay the night if the worst came to worst. I walked along the expressway with my thumb out into the traffic in the hope that someone one would stop.

Then, around a corner, I saw a car in the hard shoulder.. 'Surely they didn't stop for me?' I questioned. I got closer, and closer, and like a miracle, one of them signaled for me to get into the car! I ran, got in, and expressed my gratitude in what can only be described as slurred noises.

Once I'd calmed down a little, I found out that the pair were a mother (Kushette, pronounced Kushi) and son (Dylan) who lived in Auckland, but were traveling down to Rotorua to see Kushette's sister and dad. They also revealed that they only picked me up because they thought I was Mediterranean and exotic, and were not expecting a pom (not the first time this has happened... Brings back memories of Bummit 2011). They told me about the relatives they have all over the world (NZ, Australia, Spain, USA, UK) and also mentioned that Kushette's dad works in Rotorua, and would be able to get me and some friends a discount if we went to see the Maori performances there! Excellent! I will definitely have to take her up on that one when the Norwegians arrive!

Kushette and Dylan

When I told them that I was staying in Ngarauwahia, they looked at each other then both said "good luck" to me! Apparently it has a bit of a reputation of being a rough place where lots of "maldis" hang out (probably the NZ equivalent of a chav, or bogan). I believe the phrase "thank God you're only there for a week!" did actually come our of Kushette's mouth!

I could not have been more grateful to Kushette and Dylan, who brought me right to the driveway of the place I was staying. We exchanged numbers and bid each other farewell. My first impressions of the place were not great (tainted by Kushette's words) with broken down cars and rubbish strewn on the sided of the roads, but when I'd walked up the hill to the Earthship, my opinion completely changed! I was greeted by the family, a noisy cockatoo, several chickens, pigs bigger than me, and a barking dog. We all introduced ourselves to each other, and I ate the cold left overs from tea (since I'd arrived a lot later than anticipated). All in all, a great, but long and tiring first day. I will write more about the Earthship in my next post. It's amazing.