Hitching down south
it was the gathering 97/98, and a group of us camped at the Maitai river for a bout a week after the gathering. Any way the day we were leaving and 3 of us were heading down to Murchison to see a friends dad who has a bee farm down there. We'd packed up everything and the people who had left earlier were supposed to call us a taxi to pick us up...time passed and no taxi, we were stuck up a river road with packs and bags of food, etc.. thinking shit we're going to have to walk to Nelson, and then this guy in a ute comes along and lets out his dog for a run.
We chatted to him and he said he'd give us a lift to Nelson..now we just had to figure out how to get to Murchison...we happened to mention this to him, and (it must have been our very lucky day) he was going there in 1hr! Yay, so we organised somewhere to met him, stocked up on riggers, and scones from someones aunty..and there he was an hour later.
It was the best ride.. the trip from nelson to murchison usually takes about 2hrs i think, and we did a day trip. The guy (Dave I think) was a pig farmer who'd lived in murchison for ages, so we got a complete tour and history of the area, and lots of pig hunting stories, and then stopped of at his bach in the wop wops, and went to the pub to have a few jugs...
Got to the dads place about 6 or 7 at night..It was the best luck ever.......but then theres no such thing as coincidences is there......that's what I love about the south island (in the country i mean, chch and dunedin exluded), everyone is just so down to earth, and not stressed or worried about the latest fashion..etc. .....and I think that is one of the reasons the g is so succesful...it just wouldn't work in the n.i..(and I'm a born and bred wellingtonian so it's not because im biased).....
I apple picked in Upper Moutere (by mapua, and mahana) last year for 3 months, and it is just so fresh and sunny and happy there...out in the country, where all you hear at night is the cows next door, the deer down the road (anyone heard them during roaring season.. they sound like dinosaurs.... really crazy...)...and the whole sky is ablaze with stars..we didn't have a car and the nearest shop was 40minutes away (walking), so we hitched everywhere...you met the wickedest people down there...(except for the christian apple packer, whole tried to get us to read the bible the whole way...)