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| Hitchhiking from Ohau Stream to Kaikoura with my comrades. Not a bad place to be stuck. |
“This is what you do when you hitchhike,” my fellow German told me, “you
stand in a position where the car can pull over and park if he wants to pick
you up.” I raised an eyebrow, knowing he was both right and being very German.
“But how do you know it will be a he?” I asked, simply to be obnoxious.
“You’re a girl, of course. You tell them you’re with me, after they
offer you a ride.” I may or may not have rolled my eyes, but I wasn’t sure if
he was joking or not.
“While you do that, I’m going to go over here and ask those guys
smoking by the gas station if they’re going in our direction.” He begins
walking over. I yell at him as he walks away,
“But that’s sketchy!”
“Hitchhiking is sketchy, get over it.”
And thus, my adventures began.
For those family members who are currently hyperventilating over that dialogue,
know that in New Zealand, it is perfectly legal and socially responsible to hitchhike
and to pick up hitchhikers. Sure, bad things have happened, but not when you’re
with your compatriots, on a mission to find some sea lion pups swimming in
water falls.
You see, I had gone to the sea lion lagoon earlier that morning with a
friend from the hostel who had a car. But he had to catch an early bus so we
had to rush through the experience. I wanted to go back, and so did my German
friend (and my Swedish friend). Since none of us had a car, and the trail head
was 20 km north, there was no realizable way to get there, except by hitchhiking.
So we did.
Within minutes, we were picked up by a campervan, with a very
interesting man in the front seat. He was tattooed and long haired and
distinctly sunburnt. He had a bed in his back seat and was hiding a surfboard
under the bed. I tried to guess his accent at first, but soon he told me that
he was a dutch yogi. So we talked with the yogi for the 20 km to the sea lionlagoon.
Our enthusiasm must have sparked something in him, so he stopped and completed
the hike with us, bringing our number up to four!
The pictures are worth a million words, but the sea lion lagoon was
special. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life. Mother sea lions
travel up a freshwater river to give birth to their pups in a pool of water
falls. They then leave the pups there to play and keep safe while they hunt for
food. It is literally a seal pup daycare. They swim in the little pool, they
wiggle onto land, and they hike their way up the trails.
The Dutch man theorized that was the mechanism of doggie evolution. I
would definitely believe it.
After this magical experience (for the second time that day), we had to
get a ride back. One would think it would be easier to get a ride to the big town,
rather than away from the big town. It was not. We stuck our thumb out for an
hour, until our arms were sore and our fingers were pink.
My German friend decided to continue his old antics of directly asking
people for a ride. This time he stood at the trailhead and asked everyone
walking towards their cars if they had room for three people.
15 minutes later, an American, a Swede, a German, and two Brits were
smashed into a little car and headed back to town.
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| Sea Lion pups playing in Ohau Falls (outside of Kaikoura). |
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| A sea lion in Ohau Stream, smiling for the camera. I think he was a daddy sea lion, protecting the pregnant females. |
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| Sea Lion pups leaving the falls and heading for higher ground. No zoom necessary, I really was that close. |