Enhancing Australia (3 of 4)

Ever since running away from home with a friend and hitch-hiking 450 miles to the San Francisco area sixteen years ago, I have seen hitch-hiking as the most underrated form of travel available to modern human beings. Eventually, I will write a book about this unfortunately well kept secret, but for now I will be brief and say only this: drop your fear of your fellow human beings like the bad habit it is. Though Australia isn’t immune to the odd nasty event on the highway, this remains a reasonably safe and good hitching nation.

What people don’t realize is that the more good people out on the roads hitching, the safer the sport becomes. Australians don’t look down on hitch-hikers as a lower sub-species, something less than human, like so many media-victimized Americans. (But don’t count the U.S. out for a hitching adventure, either. It’s just a little wackier and more challenging). Australians tend to be very open to lending a hand to travellers, and the hospitality one encounters when a connection has been registered is truly heartwarming. Of course, this is true all around the world, but the extent of Australian openness is often overwhelming. Don’t be surprised if someone gives you a lift and later offers you their beach house for a month of free paradise. Believe me: it happens.

For those considering hitch-hiking, but feeling a bit nervous and holding a few unanswered questions, I will try to respond personally to feedback from this article. I have had A LOT of experience hitching globally and specifically in Australia.

Hitch-hiking will prevent you from becoming one of those backpackers who spends a few months in Australia without ever meeting many Australians and getting a feel for the culture here. Perhaps this is fine for some. Certainly, a nature focussed holiday is a wonderful way to go. But this connect-the-dots, fill in the blanks, mundane and predictable backpacker scene is what I am encouraging those with eyes for this to avoid.

Hitch-hiking is the perfect antidote to the increasingly isolating effect technology is having on our species. You will discover and build social skills you never knew you had. Hopping into a stranger’s car for a few minutes or hours can be a beautiful thing, as you are taken straight into another’s daily life, someone you may have nothing in common with…or everything. Anything goes in the world of hitching, and this rolling of the dice with your destiny is where the magic carpet ride begins.

Still skeptical??

I will let you in on a little secret. My relatively conservative American mother is in her sixties now, and decided two years ago to see what all my talk about hitching was all about. Much to my chagrin!, she flew to Sydney and hitch-hiked 1000 km to Byron Bay with a female friend! Imagine how my jaw dropped when my dear mother crawled out of a big Aussie trailer to greet me in Byron Bay. To this day she swears that trip was one of the greatest times of her life. So there!

Now let’s cut the meandering and get down to a detailed recommended adventure plan. Don’t worry. the details will quickly give way to the magic of open spontaneous possibilities. Here’s just one approach to an Aussie cultural adventure, hitching
style:

Try to land in Sydney in the morning. If you are flying from the U.S., United Airlines usually has a 6am arrival which is a beauty. Hopefully, you have slept a few winks and gone easy on the alcohol during the flight, because the adventure begins now, not later. I believe it will cost you six or seven dollars to catch the shuttle bus to Central Station.

Feeling exhausted?…jet lagged? If you answer “yes”, I won’t believe you. Do you realize where you are?! You have your feet on Australian soil (or concrete, anyway). You can’t be jet lagged yet. It takes a day or two for all that to catch up to you. Now snap out of whinge mode, and buy a train ticket to the suburb of…say Wahroonga. I chose this North Sydney suburb because we must get you out of the city immediately. There will be time for
the concrete jungle later.

Read Part 3

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