We just returned from a trip up the North Coast, where we spent a few days. We headed up last week, and drove the long 8 hours home yesterday.
I was surprised to see a plethora of hitchhikers in my travels. Not on the highways, but in the small towns we visited. OK, not a plethora, but a handful… which is more than I see in Sydney.
When I think of hitchhikers, I usually think of young hippies on their way to warmer weather… but the hitchhikers I saw were older men, which surprised me. They almost looked cute enough for me to stop and pick-up. Almost.
I’ve never really picked up a hitchhiker before. There was one time, on my way through Bowral, {home of the wealthy and kind-hearted}, an old man was stopped on the side of the road with his car broken-down. We pulled up to help him and gave him a lift into town. My sister, who was in the car with me at the time, was almost a pro at the picking up hitchhikers business, having picked up one in her late teens on the way home one day. “He looked nice,” she told us as we listened in disbelief.
I’m sounding narrow-minded, aren’t I? The only real experiences we had with hitchhikers as we grew up was the ones near the Southern Highlands who had been murdered at the hands of Ivan Milat. Scary business. That’s where my narrow mindedness stems from.
In my mid-teens my Dad hitchhiked to work a few times, much to embarrassment and fear. I don’t know why he did it. We had two cars, or a train-line close to home. He stood by the main road in his suit and found his way to work {an hour from where we lived}.
“Who on earth picks you up?” I asked him, amazed that people actually drove him to work.
“Sometimes it’s an old lady, other times it’s guys that work near me.”
As I drove past one particular hitchhiker, with my groceries in the back of my car and Lacey in the backseat, I hesitated for a mere moment and then drove on. I wondered, who does pick up people on the side of the road with their thumbs out, hopeful for a lift to where they’re going? How long do they usually have to wait?
Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? Do you have a heartwarming tale to shake me out of my small-minded judgements? Have you ever been a hitchhiker, perhaps?
My mum could never drive past a hitchhiker. We used to live in a small town south of Sydney which was surrounded by ocean and national park. The only way in or out was by boat or by car on the long winding road for a good 25 minutes. There were many people who would stand with their thumbs out at the entrance to the park and my mum would always pick them up, even in the midst of her divorce with us kids in the back seat she could never leave someone standing there. Our family were worried, but nothing bad ever happened, thank God! I would love to say I have the same heart as my mum but I am paranoid. I cannot pick up a stranger in our car, especially with my two very young children. I am a very protective mumma bear!!
I've never picked up a hitchhiker. When we travelled round Oz, in the remote areas you'd always stop if you saw anyone by the side of the road and ask if they were OK, give them a bottle of water if need be and help out if it was needed. We never had any room to drive anyone, anywhere.
My brother used to hitchhike where we grew up (the lower north shore of Sydney). He was once picked up by the mayor of Mosman in his Rolls Royce.
We see a lot of hitchhikers at the entrance to the National Park but I never even consider picking them up to be honest, particularly with my daughter in the car.I am just not willing to take a risk. Also I know if they are there a long time a ranger coming through the park will pick them up. Too many scary Ivan Milat stories for me
When my husband and I used to do alot of bushwalking (before kiddies) we drove around our lovely state of Tasmania a lot. We picked up hitchhikers a couple of times and one person was a British tourist who was very nice and last year a friend of my dads in Britain said that he had been speaking with and knows the person we picked up and we exchanged email addresses. One hitchhiker left their rubbish in the back of our car. Other than simply helping someone the other reason we picked up hitchhikers was because our road trips were long and boring and the hitchhikers told us great stories about their lives and adventures – we were never disappointed.
Hi Chantelle
We used to live in the far north coast of NSW and picked up hitchhikers all the time – this is when I was little.
Now – very sad to say I wouldn't pick anyone up.
I just don't trust the world near as much as what my parents did when I was little. (+ after watching the movie Wolf Creek – OMG who would?)
have a lovely day.
Loulou x
I love to make sticky date pudding, because it has to be the easiest recipe and it's delicious.
As for my daughter. She loves to make ripple cake.
She'd love this prize. (me too.)
I will not pick up hitchhikers.
My hubby will if our kids and i are not in the car with him.
I've never been game enough to pick up hitchhikers. We see quite a lot of them on the freeway near our house, but I always have an excuse – with three kids we can't fit them in the car.
Hello,
I live in the states, and I drive through the city, and often see hitchhikers in the bad part of the neighborhood. Being young, and looking even younger (I look maybe eighteen, even though I'm almost 24), and often driving alone, I just can't take the risk of picking them up. Yes, I have a phone, but it's just too big of a risk when I'm 30 miles from home, alone, and look young. My car is plenty big, but these guys often look seedy too. The types out of movies. It breaks my heart to turn them down, but the risk far outweighs the benefit in my circumstance.
~Ashley~
*Perpetually Me*
yes and yes. in NZ. all the time. But never if it was just me in the car and I wouldn't with my kids in the car these days. I hitched once as a teen with my boyfriend. we got a ride on the back of a ute. it was cold and windy and dangerous but kinda cool. at the time.
I remember when I was a kid on a road trip with my family, we picked up a couple that were hitching. It turned out they were from a tiny town in Canada and knew a friend of my parents (who my dad is now married to, long story).
Nope and nope. My parents always warned us against picking up strangers and never picked up hitchhikers themselves, so we never have either. I once saw a guy I used to go to school with hitchhiking, and by the time I realised I knew him I was already past hime. I considered stopping and going back, but another car had stopped by then so I kept going. I would never with the kids in the car either – with them in the back seat, the only spare seat is the front seat next to me, and thats just to close for comfort for my liking. Sorry to anyone who does hitch – you won't be picked up by me.
I've picked up lots of hitchickers (none for a while as my car is now full of kids) My parents live out past Mt Arapiles in western Vic, everytime I went past I would pick some up either going to Horsham or back to the mountain, they were always fascinating – travelling the world climbing mountains! My most recent hitchicker was an old bloke out in the middle of nowhere needing a lift into Ballarat, he told me he does it every day, gets a ride into the pokies & home again that evening!
I grew up on the Far North Coast and when I got my licence I would sometimes pick up young teenagers hitching. I stopped when the young girls I picked up very obviously had bags full of freshly picked dope – it absolutely stunk and so did my car for quite a while! Not again after that little adventure!
I used to Hitchhike all the time as a teen.
Old couples and women actually used to pick me up the most, as they we're most likely to feel sorry for me.
My most favourite H-hike was with “Chook the truck driver” who gave my bestie and I a ride home one freezing night after a party miiiiles away from home. He was hilarious!
I don't drive, so i havent picked up a hithhikers yet, but I will in future.
I live in an alpine town, there are 2 ski fields within half an hour of here. So at this time of year, there are tons and tons of skiers/snowboarders trying to hitch a ride up the mountain. I can't even go to buy groceries without passing about a dozen people with their thumbs out! But like you, I don't pick them up. Would be a bit hard to fit them in anyway, with 2 carseats in the back.
I had no choice but to hitchhike in a rather remote village in Vietnam.
It was heavily populated by buddhists, so I took my chances and hitch-hiked back to my accommodation.
Long story short, I was mugged beyond belief (they took everything other than my passport – thanks guys!), and dropped in an even more remote area with my smashed mobile phone and my passport.
Had to walk KILOMETRES to my accom. and spent my entire walk hating humanity, lol!
My boyfriend (now husband) could not believe my stupidity, but I've always been so trusting.
Now I'm a mother. A very over protective mother. And despite my bad luck story, and my empathy for most hitch-hikers, NOONE would get me to stop for them & pick them up 🙂
When younger ?21 or so and my brother was 18 we picked up a rather smelly hitchhiker on his way on the road into Surfers Paradise…. he had been staying at the local lockup the night before !!!! for being drunk. I would never pickup someone now though espec with my girls in the back, come to think of it im sure it was my brother's idea at the time, he is a boxer so i guess i felt safe
I used to always pick up hitchhikers when I was younger! Most were just normal people, although there were a few odd (but completely harmless) ones along the way! These days my thoughts are more like yours…I'm a little bit less reckless, and I got sick of seeing the cringes on my hubby's face when I would tell him about a hitchhiker I had picked up!
True story. My BFF and a friend of her's were out drinking one night and hitched a ride into Surfers. My BFF is now married to and has a son with the guy who picked them up. BFF's mother found out at the wedding how they REALLY met!
I have never picked up a hitch hiker, I share the same fear after having watched too many scary movies. But, my husband and I did once drive around a round-a-bout on the Sunshine Coast 7 times and waved at a hitch hiker each time we passed him… hmmm… maybe he was the sane one and we twits in the red ute were the crazies… hee hee.
NEVER!!! We used to drive from canberra to sydney a lot, we would see hitchhiker's all the time. I dunno there is something that kinda freaks me out about them…
I hitchhiked once when I was walking down a road after climbing a mountain in Innsbruck Austria. Sounds adventurous but I ran out of cash (credit de-magnetised and had to wait for the bank to open – it was a Sunday) I had no way of paying for a bus or taxi down the long winding rode back to the train station so I consulted my trusty Berkeley guide which said that using it as a mode of transport in Austria was not unreasonable. So I took the plunge stuck out my thumb and made it safely back to the train station. Now that I'm a mum though … would I pick one up? Probably not.
I lived in the Southern Highlands briefly just before ivan Milat was caught! Needless to say it kinda put me off having anything to do with hitchiking!!!
Helen
Before we had a million children and hence no room, we used to pick up the occasional roadside person. Only because we hitched ourselves in France and Ireland, so it seems only fair.
Generally we only pick up a boy and a girl or girl / girl combos. Never someone by themselves. I don't know why. x
As a stupid young teenager I hitchhiked ALL the time, because I was invincible, & now I am surprised that I am not dead. I never pick up hitchhikers now, because I have too much to live for, & it's not the way I want to die. Sorry, guess I just added to your sensible small minded judgements!
x
This is a great post Chantelle and a really good question. I think I have seen too many creepy movies and read too many chilling accounts about hitchhiking. I have never done it myself, nor have I ever picked up anyone. I don't often see hitchhiker's anymore, but I guess I'm not driving on the open road as much either.
I think people who pick up and get picked up are very brave and in some ways, quite lucky, if they get through without incident.
My mum is from nz and we used to pick up a few hitchhikers when we holidayed there as kids. Looking back I realise my parents always picked up young kids, probably uni kids on a break. I was always disappointed they didn't talk more and share exciting stories! I also hitchhiked once. We went to a uni toga party and wanted to get to the local club to dance afterwards. We got picked up by a lovely older couple in a very fancy vintage car (I remember it had white leather seats). They drove three giggly girls (covered in beer) directly to the club. They were very sweet so we were lucky. We thought we were safe in numbers – what an idiot!
I'm picky about who I pick up (would never pickup men if I was alone in the car) but I'll do it. I used to hitchhike around NZ lots in my early 20's and I really enjoyed the experience. I got to go to interesting places and meet interesting people along the way. Maybe being a young women alone made it relatively easy for me to get rides because I never had to wait long and always felt completely safe. Usually I got rides with older men who would tell me they had daughters my age, families with a spare seat. other young travelers or elderly people who wanted someone to talk to.
when i was 16 my male friend and i hitchhiked from act to sydney and back we even had a sign saying canberra not balangalo as a mum to a 16 daughter i would hate it if she tryed hitchiking…
we had truckies, and familys pick us up and afew uni students…
I have hitch-hiked all around the world, 99 percent no dramas. If you allow FEAR to enter your mindset, then that is what you will get…
I also live on the Far North Coast of NSW and yes many hitch-hikers,old folk, mums, teens, hippies, backpackers, workers, and “normal socially acceptable” folks…(just like yourself Chantelle). I have done it when my car was in @ mechanics, no “courtesy cars” up here!! If I didnt like the look of someone offering a ride, I wouldnt get in.Hasnt happened yet, the people offering rides are the same as the aforementioned demographic. Also public transport is infrequent, I know uni students going from Byron to Lismore ( 40ish kms) as no public transport. Or, people who dont have enough $$$ for a car, or, people who have lost their licences, it happens to loads of us. So, yes do not judge…this is the moral of my long tale. xxx
i used to live in a small town where there were no police and only a few streets and one long road into town so i used to hitchhike i would put my hand out first then once the car pulled over my boyfriend would appear most of the time they would only take me and my boyfriend would have to walk. .The only hitchhikers i would pick up were ladies no men ever.
I'm a paranoid human being, I could never stop for a hitchhiker, I'd be too scared! I watch too much horror movies too so that doesn't help!
I have picked up several hitchhikers – between Sydney and Coffs Harbour. Ince I stopped for an elderly Aboriginal man north of Newcastle. He was alone. He got in the front seat, then as I was about to drive off a younger one jumped in the back seat. I asked the first one if he knew he was being followed and was told ‘he’s so ugly no one would stop if he was seen’. Drove them north, and the first one asked if he could connect a usb stick of country music – all aboriginal musicians. Great music and great company. I offered to drive them to their place off-road west of Taree but he said ‘not a good place for decent white guys’ and thanked me when he left.
Another time i picked up 2 young guys (crew cuts) and 2 girls. Was at 2am south of Urunga, and they looked ‘army’. About 20 minutes down the road ine said ‘no-one ever picks us up normally … How do you know we won’t rob you?!’
– It took me less than 15 seconds to hit 200km per hour, and they became very quiet. I told them that “I work in emergency, and it’s a known fact that when a car hits anything at this speed, only the driver survived. All the passengers are usually shredded and mangled” – I slowed down when I saw lots of cars stopped, and they ran off.
Last time, picked up a young English couple at Newcastle heading for Brisbane, late in day. Got to my destination Urunga and they said they wiuld find somewhere to camp, so offered them a room with shower at my mum’s, she made them dinner, and breakfast. In morning they were going to hitch from there but i offered a detour trip to Bellingen (and if they didn’t like it would take them back to highway). They loved Bellingen and stayed there. Mum got postcards from them months later.
Advice:
1) never pick them up unless I’m alone
2) never if your gut feeling is ‘no’
3) never if your car doesn’t have at least a 5.7 litre engine.
4) never if you don’t have a sense of humour and a ready tongue