Hitch Hiking to Dunedin!

Alright. So I checked last night and the buses to dunedin today we're totally booked. In order to not alarm anyone (mom) I didn't mention in last night's post that I spent about an hour while watching tv working on my Dunedin sign.

So anyways this morning I woke up and showered and tried to look as presentable as possible before heading out on my adventure! Most of the stores were closed for ANZAC day (NZ's remembrance day) so I grabbed a cinnamon bun from the one place that is always open...Starbucks.

Afterwards I set out for the street my hostel staff friends had sent me to. It wasn't quite on the edge of town but it was where the highway was just beginning. It had a perfect stretch long enough for vehicles to be able to see me and my sign and a nice shoulder for them to stop. I stood there plugged into my iPod casually dancing and waving at the cars as they went by. A few people flipped me the bird but most had warm smiles or waves showing that they were either already full or not going to Dunedin. After only about 15 minutes of waiting a nice camper van pulled over and a couple from the UK popped their heads out of the window. Initially they explained they were heading to Arrowtown which wouldn't be nearly far enough, but they quickly clarified that they were just going through for a walk and a coffee and would be in Dunedin by early evening at the latest. I told them that plan worked with me and they kindly opened the door and allowed me to put my stuff in the back storage area.

The van had a bench seat in the front so it wasn't the definition of comfortable but I certainly wasn't picky. Angela and Derek quickly introduced themselves and we quickly began chatting of all sorts of things.

Arrowtown was a short drive from Queenstown but they had a friend waiting on them there. After meeting Gwill (short for Gwilliam, apparently a welsh name) we sat down for a quick coffee. There was a parade on the main street for ANZAC day that we watched. After coffee we all set out on quick walk by the river and to see the bautiful autumn colors. It just so happened that this weekend was the autumn festival in arrowtown so the trees we're all absolutely beautiful in color. Reds, oranges, greens, purples, and yellows spread out everywhere. It was absolutely beautiful. I even took a super cute photo of the couple while they were walking. The greatest part is that they never even knew I took the photo until I sent it to them tonight 😊 Shortly after that we left and continued on our adventure.

We exchanged cookies throughout the drive. About an hour later we stopped in Alexandra for a grocery stop. They got lunch stuff and I bought magnum ice cream bars to share with them. There were 4 in the package and just three of us because Gwill left so I legitimately walked up to this stranger who was probably late thirties and asked him if he wanted ice cream. His face was like "is that a trick question? " but he eventually smiled and nodded yes. I could tell he was grateful and it made my heart smile 😊

After another half hour or so we found a nice spot to pullover and have our lunch. There was a nice stream/river flowing through the colorful trees which made for beautiful scenery.

The rest of the drive was really quite nice. All kinds of different scenery. When we got to Dunedin they offered to take me right to my hostel so I happily accepted. After dropping me off at the door I was more than thankful. What an absolutely beautiful and wonderful experience for me.

I checked into the hostel and relaxed for a while before going into the city centre for dinner. My good friend Amanda actually worked in Dunedin for a long time while she was here and I'm staying at both the hostel she worked in and I ate at the restaurant she worked in. So I walked in and asked for Rion and by coincidence he said yup that's me and I said Amanda send me here and his face lit up and he said "we loved Amanda." I ordered a peroni beer and a half and half pizza. The pizza crust was so thin and crispy and just wow. So good! Grace was my server and she had the absolute best energy to her. She just seemed so jolly and genuine, it was a pleasure to meet her.

After I came back to the hostel and there was a game of thrones premiere night. Literally half the hostel showed up to watch it which was so cool! After we watched gladiator. It turned out to be quite quite a late night. Did you that the guy who plays dumbledore in the first few Harry potters is in gladiator!? Well now yoy do! 😊 Unfortunately I fell asleep about an hour in. I woke up about 3 hours later in the tv room nearly pitch dark. It was actually really cute because I had a blanket on that someone much have covered me up with because I didn't have one when I fell asleep. It's now about 330 am and I'm going to my room. Goodnight!!!!

-Terrence outRead more