Mom & Dad: I pick up hitchhikers

New Zealand is, apparently, the only safe country left to hitchhike in and pick up hitchhikers. While I haven’t done the former (and don’t plan to given our great rental car), the latter has become one of my favorite things over the past few days. So far, we’ve had 7 hitchhikers in our smokin’ Toyota Corrolla:

1) Miguel: from Spain, has been traveling for 19 years. Julie met him at a vegetarian restaurant in Christchurch and we agreed to let him ride with us until we got to Dunedin, where my aunt and uncle live. When we got there, my aunt and uncle invited him to stay at their house, so we didn’t leave him until 2 days later, when we left him on the side of a road heading south.

Julie and Anne saw him on the top of a mountain during their 3-day trek about one week later. What a small world….

2) Emily: from New York, but her dad lives in Madison. I met her in the Te Anau Visitor’s Center bathroom when she asked me about shuttle buses to a trek she was doing. Knowing that the shuttles had all left by that time, I offered to drive her, as it was only about 10 minutes down the road.

Unfortunately, she left her Nalgene bottle in the car but, since Anne lost her Nalgene on the first airplane we boarded on the trip, it is being put to good use.

3) Felix: from Germany, works in New Zealand for a cruise boat that tours Milford Sound ($80 for 2 1/2 hours). I was driving home from a hike up to a beautiful lake on the top of a mountain when I saw him on the side of the road with the customary thumb out. On a whim, I stopped and picked him up, giving him a ride back to the town where we were staying. When I asked him for cheap ways to see Milford Sound, which we were planning to tour the next day anyway, but didn’t know if we wanted to spend $80 for a boat ride, he told us that he could get us on the boat for free if we met him at the park the next morning at 9:30am. Before I dropped him off we introduced ourselves, with promises to see each other the next day…and sure enough, early the next morning he gave us passes onto the boat for free.

The free tour included a 2 1/2 hour boat ride with funny commentary telling us about all of the geological features, dolphins swimming within feet of the boat, and free coffee and tea.

4) Yoni, Gil, and 2 others: from Israel, all 4 of them with their 4 giant backpacks stuffed into our tiny car (and me). I was driving back to Te Anau to find petrol and lodging while Anne and Julie explored a little more when I found them on the side of the road, looking defeated. They had just done a 3-day trek and had been waiting on the side of the road for a ride for an hour, when I came along in my little car and told them that if they could fit, they could ride with me (but the trunk was full of our own packs). They agreed and stuffed themselves into the car, where they proceeded to talk really fast in Hebrew and then pop out a question to me in English every now and then. The best one:
Gil: What is your name?
Me: Lu-thee-in
Gil: What?!
Me: (sigh) Lu-theeee-in
Gil: As in Luthien from the Silmarillion??
Me: <complete shock>

I tell heaps of Americans my name and its origins every year, yet this Israeli hitchhiker picked it up right away. Awesome.

-Luthien