Hello friends!
After we took the ferry from Devonport, Tasmania back to Melbourne I spent a couple of wonderful days in the house of Lauren and Daniel in Eltham (right here I need to mention how much I LOVE Lauren and Daniel!), until Tallan picked me up to take me to his home near Colac.
An old dairy on a windy hill, surrounded only by cow paddocks, and turned into a foresty little garden by Tallan over the last 12 years. It was very peaceful there, and just good to spend some time with amazing Tallan. :) After he had let me take over his face with paint at the Rainbow Gathering...
After we took the ferry from Devonport, Tasmania back to Melbourne I spent a couple of wonderful days in the house of Lauren and Daniel in Eltham (right here I need to mention how much I LOVE Lauren and Daniel!), until Tallan picked me up to take me to his home near Colac.
An old dairy on a windy hill, surrounded only by cow paddocks, and turned into a foresty little garden by Tallan over the last 12 years. It was very peaceful there, and just good to spend some time with amazing Tallan. :) After he had let me take over his face with paint at the Rainbow Gathering...
...he let me take over his kitchen cupboard with some paint...
That was fun! Like in old teenage days, just listening to loud music while painting something for the sake of painting.
And then Tallan dropped me off so I could hitch towards the Port Fairy Folk Festival...
I wrote this as a guest writer for my awfully inspiring friend Manny and his blog Raw Safari: www.rawsafari.com
Just one year ago, I never would have even dreamed of hitch hiking all by myself. Growing up in a conventional German village world, I was told that hitch hiking is just too dangerous and thus a very silly thing to do - with all these creeps, rapists and chainsaw murderers out there. Hitch hiking as a girl alone - just not an option! Anyway, I was travelling Australia in my own car, so I never had to worry about how to get somewhere.
Then, as I started festival-hopping, I got into the "scene of crazy people" and I met more and more other young European backpackers like me, just that they handled the whole thing quite differently: instead of spending all their money on a car or on public transport, they would just hitch hike everywhere, and it seemed to work out just fine for them. I remember talking to Carline, a French solo traveller about my age, hearing her explain why she thinks hitch hiking is awesome and not so scary at all. I remember how I thought she was a crazily reckless...
Finding more people like her, finding this blog and eventually finding its creator meant finding out more about this kind of life "them irresponsible people" were leading.
You hardly ever have to worry about money? You can go for years without working a real job and just travel and have fun instead? You get picked up by super kind locals who invite you to stay at their house and give you food as well? You happen to end up in wonderful places that you would never have known otherwise? How come you're making all these friends? How come you have so many amazing adventures, experiences and stories to tell?!
I realized how - comparatively - boring, stressful, lonely and money consuming it is to own and travel with a vehicle. Cars just "cost big bikkies". They way they lived started to make much more sense to me. They had all the fun. If they can do it - if it works out so amazingly well for them - why shouldn't I be able to do the same...?
After I sold my car October last year I was most inspired to spend the rest of my time in Australia living like Manny, Carline, Bobby, Sarah and all the others!
From Woodford to Melbourne: 3 days, 7 lifts
After the Woodford Folk Festival I had to get to Melbourne within three days to catch the plane that I had booked to Tasmania. Grace and Tim, two awesome people who volunteered with me, drove me all the way to a petrol station close to the New South Wales border. As I was still rearranging my luggage in front of the building, a young woman walked past and said "Come with us, we can take you as far as Coffs Harbour, if you don't mind stopping by at my grandma's for a cuppa tea?"
Of course I didn't mind! She and her Peruvian husband run a gourmet chocolate factory in the Andes and just came over to Australia to visit her family. We spent some time drinking tea and eating cake at her grandmother's place - I was welcomed warmly by everyone as if it was the most normal thing to have a young stranger sipping tea on their sofa. Reaching Coffs Harbour, they invited me to stay overnight at their families house so I wouldn't have to camp alone and in the rainy weather. A bed, a yummy dinner and even a beer - how grateful was I!
Early in the morning they dropped me by the highway and after maybe 5 minutes of waiting, a guy pulled over offering to take me all the way to Sydney. Sadly and shamefully, I forgot his name, but I remember him as the George Ezra man - that was his favourite music at the moment and we listened to the whole album twice. Connecting over the music, the 8 hours went by quickly.
In Sydney I got picked up my a young tradesman only seconds after I held up my sign. He only took me 16 km down the road, but we had a chat about the situation of the Indigenous Australians today and he said something I'll remember him by: "It's a culture, not a colour!"
Unfortunately he dropped me off in a bad spot, under a bridge by the highway where everyone went some 120km/h. On top of that, it was raining like a curtain and with all the water spraying around nobody could even see me. I stood for two and a half hours, until my cardboard sign saying "Melbourne" was all soggy from the gusts of rain and my desperation was growing. But there was nowhere else to go, nobody to call for help, all I could do was be patient and grateful for the rain cape Grace had given me!
Eventually, Wendy pulled over and invited me to stay the night at her house in Wollongong. Thankfully I accepted. Wendy is just a piece of pure gold! She instantly adopted me and looked after me like a mum would. Her partner and her 15-year-old son were just as wonderful - the son slept on the couch so I could have his bed! They fed me dinner and chocolate, and a hot shower after standing in the rain was just the best thing.
The next day they dropped me at a petrol station where after about 3 minutes I got an inviting wave from a truck driver. I'd never been in one of those big trucks before and was curious about how it's like to be a truckie travelling up and down Australia's endlessly long highways. The guy looked quite a like a stereotypical truckie, with tattoos, a beard and a belly, and at first I wasn't quite sure about him because he went on and on telling me scary stories about what terrible things happened to him when he once hitch hiked. Then I realized, tried to scare me because he wanted me to stay safe and stop hitching, just like a good dad would. When he dropped me at a petrol station near Canberra, he was reluctant to leave before I'd gotten another lift and talked to other truckies, trying to make sure I get "a good one". Rough exterior and a good heart beneath.
It took only a couple of minutes until I got picked up by a young New Zealander with his 43 year-old Holden ute. He drove me all the way to Melbourne and told me inspiring stories about squatting - "unlawfully occupying an unoccupied building". Yelling over his punk rock music, he told me that he and his friends hadn't paid rent for 7 years because they always found an empty house to squat in. Wow!
Port Fairy Folk Festival hitching
Lately I went to volunteer at the Port Fairy Folk Festival in south west Victoria. The "Folkie" is so popular that accommodation in town and neighbour towns is super expensive and booked out months ahead; that's why I was more than glad to be able to stay with a friend in Warrnambool for free. Warrnambool, however, is still about 30 minutes driving away from the festival.
About 2 minutes after my friend dropped me on the highway in Colac, a car pulled over with two businessmen in it - a real estate agent and a developer. The latter was called Dale and told me stories about how he used to hitch hike everywhere when he was a teenager. After a some time filled with cheerful chatting and getting to know each other they dropped me off in Camperdown. Before I got out, Dale handed me his business card and said "If you ever come back to Melbourne, give me a ring, me and my wife will take you out for dinner!"
After about 10 minutes of waiting, a car with three young Englishmen in it picked me up. They're the "Young'uns" and were on their way to perform at the festival! They've just landed in Australia and I gave them some Aussie slang lessons delivered with a German accent. In turn I found their northern England accent hilarious, played them some Tin Whistle and they sang along to the Irish tune. We joked until they dropped me in Warrnambool, and of course I promised to come and see their shows.
Over the festival weekend I got picked up by five more parties of people, mostly older couples that went to the festival every year. All of them were just super generous and lots of them used to hitch hike themselves and shared their stories with me. Zoe, Shirley and Gary picked me up late Sunday night after the East Pointers, took me home to the caravan park they were staying where I could pitch my tent on their spot for free. The next morning, they made me a coffee and took me back to the festival - and when the East Pointers played again, they all came and danced with me! Oh my god, they were just such a lovely amazing family.
The East Pointers! Turned into my absolute fav band at the moment. I can never stay still when I hear this.
Later in the day, Katy and Bob bought me an ice cream, and while we drove to Warrnambool and shared stories, Kath said: " There's nothing more exciting than standing on the side of the road with your thumb out!" - "You speak my language!" I laughed.
After the festival I hitched to Melbourne with three lifts - with Michael the cement business manager, with Miles the travelling stock broker, and with Trish and Bob who came from the festival, towing their caravan and learning a bit of Tin Whistling from me. Goodness, were they all lovely.
The Plan Z
There is one kind of silly little tip Manny gave me that made a big difference to how I felt about my safety when hitching: the pen. A pen is an innocent item that you can even casually stick behind your ear, yet, in an absolute case of emergency, it can be a weapon. A blunt weapon to use in self-defence not to kill your opponent, but just to give you that tiny moment of distraction that you might need to escape.
Sounds spectacular, doesn't it? Always good to have a Plan Z!
I honestly don't think it would ever come that far - I trust my common sense, instincts and good luck with that one. It seems ridiculous to imagine me ferociously stabbing someone with a pen :D But just knowing about this gives me that tiny bit of reassurance that I'd need if I'd ever feel seriously unsafe.
So far, it's just absolutely incredible how giving and kind the people were who picked me up from the side of the road. Am I just super lucky, or is it karma, or is it true that you attract what you project? I haven't had one sketchy experience yet.
Every time I just make great new connections; people who look after me and show me the how far you can take generosity and friendliness. I don't only just get a ride, I they share with me their stories, their opinions, their music music or hard earned wisdom of life, their wonderful company - I learn something from everyone. I hope I can pay all this back some day, in some way! It's insane how much I have already gained from that little bit of hitching I've done.
Seriously, who wants a car? I don't anymore!
This song made me cry, thinking of my parents at home. Good reminder for me to look at what I am doing from their perspective sometimes!
At this point a little shout-out for Christine, a wonderful lady in her sixties who let me stay in her son's empty room in her home in Warrnambool. She even cooked for me! She's a piece of gold.
Once more, how good do I have it to know so many marvellous people who let me stay at their places and charge me up with their love and kindness.
The Mae Trio!
