(Scroll down to see Chapter 1 & 2)

Chapter 3

My first hitchhiking trip

A week of ConFest

After a week of Confest, we finally left and headed back to the highway to continue on with our journey.  We were picked up by a confester who was heading to Adelaide.  Emmanuel and I looked at each other and thought 'hmmmm'... So we hitched with Shaun to South Australia.  The long drive got us talking a lot and had really interesting stories.  Probably best stories I’ve heard in years.

We didn't want to go into Adelaide, so Shaun dropped us off at Pinnarroo.  It was an intersection of a quiet highway.   

The sun was setting and there were hardly any cars passing by.  I looked around, it was dry and arid.  I was starting to feel worried about an unpleasant night sleeping on hard ground, no water supply and dry chewy beef jerky for dinner.  As soon as I saw a car, I couldn’t help but show how desperate we were for a ride and put on my puppy face.  The car didn't stop though.. BUMMER!  Without any choice but to hope for another car to pass, I continue on standing beside the road and snuggled to Emmanuel as the temperature was starting to drop.  A few minutes later, a car came from the other direction.  The car stopped in front of us.  It turned out to be the car that passed by before.  We jumped in feeling so happy and grateful.  Apparently, he turned around because he felt really sorry for us and even offered us some money which of course we refused.  I suppose my puppy face really worked, probably worked too well.

Hitching on the border of Bordertown

Craig, the driver, sure has a heart of gold, he went 50kms out of his way to drop us off at Bordertown which is the closest town in the area.  When we got there, we gave him our big thanks, dropped in at the groceries, refilled our water bottles and looked for a place to camp.  Beside Tatiara Creek was our home that night.  We had a small camp fire and cooked our dinner.  It was a fine dine!

We got up the next morning lying down underneath a tree, facing a very wonky looking old fashion water tank that looks like it’s going to fall anytime soon.  It turned out to be a town sculpture, it sure is a grotesque looking sculpture.  We got up, had brekkie and walked a loooooong way to the highway.  We were picked up by a truckie who was a really young and cool guy.  Not the average truckie you see every day.  We got off at Mount Gambier and continue on hitching to Nelson Bay.



Jack, the neat looking truckie

We decided that was where we should be camping that night.   We went down to the river side and nestled our selves beside the river.  After dinner, we spent the night at the pub near where we were.  It was an old and really interesting pub having attention-grabbingly weird decor.  After a few beers, we went back to our camp.  When we were sleeping in the open air, we felt raindrops on our face, so we got up and gathered our stuff as quickly as possible then ran to the nearest shelter.  Emmanuel looked around and found a nice big and thick pine tree that had enough pine needle to shelter us with a naturally available fallen pine needle bed.  It was comfy!



Nelson Bay, South Australia

The next morning, we woke up with frost around us.  It was freezingly cold!  Travelling through the coast didn’t seem appetising anymore, so we hitched back up to Mount Gambier going inland heading towards Wagga Wagga, where Emmanuel grew up as a kid.

As we came in further inland and northeast, the temperature rised, it was much nicer.  The longest ride we had that day was with a lady named Kim.  She drove us all the way to north of Melbourne from Casterton.  On the way, she gave us a little tour to a castle called Kryal Castle.  We were surprised that there was a castle in Australia.  Apparently it was built in the 70s for entertainment purposes.  It was dark, and Kim dropped us off on the highway.  We tried to hitch in the dark to get out of the highway, but no luck.  So, we gave up and looked for a good spot to camp which was a vacant land with overgrown weeds.  It sounds unpleasant, but I actually really enjoyed camping there that night.  The fact that we were hidden away from the city and highway, made me feel like I was invisible.  It was a good feeling.

Hitching in Albury, so far been the worst place to hitch

In the morning, we got up and hitched on the same spot we were the night before.  This time it only took us 5 minutes to wait for a ride.  We spent the whole day on the highway, either hitching or in a car.  Around mid day, we were dropped off on the southern highway of Albury, tons of cars were passing through but hardly any would stop for us, even if they did, they were going in to Albury which we were trying to avoid.  We took turn sticking our thumbs out for 4 hours and had no luck.  Sun was starting to set, so we decided to go into Albury and find a spot to camp that night.  We crossed the 6 lane highway and climbed up the retaining wall then walked into town.  We got some food and water and walked to the Botanical garden to spend the night there.  The flowers were blooming that time, making it very enjoyable sleeping amongst them.

Murray River at Wagga Wagga

The next day, we walked out of Albury heading towards Wagga.  We stopped at McDonalds and asked for directions and ended up having a man offering us a ride to the highway.  He took us to Olympic highway and went back after he dropped us off.  What a champ!  Not many car passed by at that time, but the first car stopped for us and took us all the way to Wagga Wagga.  We got to Wagga by lunch time and spent our day cruising around town featuring Emmanuel’s childhood and teenage stories.  In the afternoon, we spent time on the side of the river bank and had a swim.  That night we had barbecued dinner and spent the rest of the night beside the river bank.  I made friends with a possum but I was teasing it too much and ended up getting bitten. OUCH! Never trust a possum, I’d say!

We got up early in the morning and left Wagga heading towards the coast.  On the road, we saw a fellow hitch hiker who seemed to be in his 60s.  Good on him!  We finally got to Albion Park then hitched a few rides to Kiama.  On the highway, it took us a while to get a ride because it was a tricky spot, but finally we were picked up by a Navy dude.  He was actually going to Bomaderry but ended up taking us all the way to Callala Bay.  What a trooper!

And that was the end of our trip.  I hope one of the drivers who picked us up reads my blog.  If you do, I’d like to thank you for your kindness and for opening up my eyes to the world of trustworthiness and generosity.

Right now, I’m counting down for our next adventure heading to Europe which will happen in the next few days.  More stories and excitements to come.  Stay tuned. 

Map of Moulemein NSW through South Australia and Victoria to Callala Bay NSW

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Good night ladies and gentlemen, until the next blog..