Hitchhiking to Ashburton

To start our first job in New Zealand, we set off for Ashburton in the afternoon. Since the buses there were too expensive, we decided to go for the free alternative: hitchhiking.

After checking out of our accommodation in Christchurch shortly after 11 o'clock, we made our way to a main road that led to Highway 1. From there, it was just under an hour's drive.

After fifteen minutes on the side of the road, no car had stopped yet, which is rather unusual for New Zealand. At first, we doubted our homemade sign, which we had made on a cut-up cereal box. It wasn't until an older New Zealand woman stopped to pick us up that she told us that this road was rather inconvenient for hitchhiking.

We drove for about 20 minutes until the nice lady dropped us off at what she considered to be an optimal spot based on her experience. She used to hitchhike herself and, without any time pressure, would have driven us directly to Ashburton. So we waited again by the side of the road for a new ride. Just under 2 minutes later, another woman drove us right in front of our new accommodation in Ashburton.