Hitch-Hiking

The first time that I hitch-hiked in New Zealand was about three weeks ago. My flatmate and I had gone shopping in Frankton, which is about a ten minute drive from Queenstown, and she was headed to work afterwards. I didn't feel like coughing up the bus fare to get home, and I've heard that hitching is easy in this country, so I gave it a shot. It took somewhere around 48 seconds before a car pulled over. Since that day I have been hitch-hiking all around the place. It is ridiculously easy to catch rides, and the drivers are always super friendly. At first I was just sticking out my thumb and smiling, but last week I made myself some signs to facilitate the process; one says "Queenstown" and the other reads "Fern Hill" (the neighborhood where I live). The latter is clutch, as my house is a bit out of town and way up on a hill. Straight thumbing it is like shooting fish in a barrel, so using a sign is more like blowing up a warehouse stacked with barrels of fish. I even got picked up at 3 in the morning last weekend and driven all the way to my front door! Yeah, I know, heading home at 3am is totally wimping out. Seriously, the bars in Queenstown stay open until 6.