The past two months I’ve slowly hitchhiked my way up from Melbourne to Brisbane. Sometimes it was easy and other times it was rather difficult to get a lift. There was this one time when I had just put down my backpack and was about to take a photo of my hitchhiking sign, when a car already had stopped for me. However, there was also another time when I was standing by myself on the side of the road for 1.5 hours, it started to rain and an angry girl gave me the finger. Last but not least, I had a fantastic experience only yesterday which I will tell you more about in this post.
On a nice sunny day, I took my friend John on his first hitchhiking adventure to Rainbow Beach. We left our hostel in Noosa before noon and were dropped off by some fellow backpackers at a roundabout in town. Our new friends actually could have taken us all the way to our destination but instead we preferred to stand with our sign on the side of the road.
One excited man!
We were waiting for less than five minutes when a car already stopped for us. It was a white Holden station wagon from the 70s (not that I know much about cars but it was beautiful). The couple who picked us up took us about 4km up the road from where it would be easier to continue hitchhiking. Not only did they give us a lift but they also offered us a cold beer which we happily accepted.
Our first lift in a Holden station wagon.
From where we were dropped off, we walked a short distance up the road to where we hoped to catch a lift to the nearby highway. Two guys passed us and came back a few minutes later. Unfortunately they weren’t able to take us but instead let us know that there would be a much better way to get to Rainbow Beach. Instead of the highway, they recommended to drive along the beach, where it would be low tide now and only 4WD’s would be allowed to go on. We gladly followed their friendly advice and walked to the street which would eventually lead to the beach.
Once again we got lucky. After only one minute another couple stopped and gave us a lift to the beach. We were so excited and overwhelmed with joy when we left the car. Instead of driving on the highway, we were now about to hitchhike right next to ocean.
A few minutes later, two big 4WD’s passed us, turned around and came back. “Where do you want to go to?” one of the guys shouted. “Rainbow Beach!” we replied. “Well, jump in!” was the response. So we got in the car with three Aussies and cruised up the beach at 80 km/h. Admiring the crashing waves on the right and stunning rock formations on the left, we eventually arrived at Rainbow Beach about one hour later.
This was definitely one of my best hitchhiking days ever!
Smile! Our last ride for the day.
Have you ever tried hitchhiking? If yes, what was one of your personal highlights?
No comments