How I Hitchhiked 4000KM across Australia

In 10 days I hitchhiked over 4000 Km. Through the outback of Australia. In comparison, this would be the equivalent of driving from Madrid all the way up to Moscow. My trip led me from Darwin, down south to Adelaide and east towards Griffith.

Before I started many people told me it wouldn't be possible and that I would most likely get mugged, abducted, or even killed. People told me of Australian movies where backpackers got killed and they said over 30,000 people go missing in Australia ever year!

All these warning didn't affect me very much. I have learned that many of the opinions on the art of hitchhiking are mostly partial, selective and deformed. Mostly by the media or through discouraging advice from travel agents.

The fact is, hitchhiking is still very much alive and it's a wonderful experience! I really enjoy the random situations that it brings you in. You end up in a car with a total stranger and share stories about your lives. You learn time and again that there is no right and wrong in life, there's only "different".

I met many inspiring people alone the way and drove among others with a detective, a die hard trucker and an Irish guy in search of a better life in Australia.
I got stuck on a gas station for a long time and ended up spending a wonderful evening with a family in Adelaide.

I documented the whole trip and put a HD video of it on my video blog.
If your interested and want to know more about how to be successful at hitchhiking, check it out!

Hope you all have a great day!

Well done, man. Hitchhiking needs to happen more often. Humans need to be less afraid of other humans.

I agree with you both. I try to pick up hitch hikers as often as i have the chance. Just yesterday I got stuck in a snow storm with my 1978 BMW motorbike in Yosemite National Park, California. Everyone that had room offered a ride as they passed by. I took one of them up on it going towards my destination. Humans are pretty awesome.

I agree with you guys and i think that hitch hiking is very important, however here in Morocco people tend to not trust each other that's why hitch hiking doesn't happen a lot here... I hope i can do hitch hiking in a country other than mine !

Most of my hitchhiking was during the mid 1960s, it was quite common place then one of my trips was spent traveling over a number of weeks hitching from England to Greece and back.
I had little money and sold blood on a number of occasions to get the money to live.
I met some interesting characters on the road and so much kindness from strangers. In Yugoslavia I ate my first green pepper, something I'll always remember as the lorry driver had little but shared his food with me.
Whether or not it would be safe as a women to do this today is debatable.
Some years later when I had children the train we were traveling in broke I suggested to my husband that we should try and hitch and within 5 minutes we had a lift, it was relatively easy and we were taken directly to the hotel we had booked for our stay in Barcelona.
You should certainly try and look presentable and if you are traveling with a women it should be easier.
Waiting in the right places is also very important and make sure it's acceptable to do it in the country you are traveling.

Wow that is AMAZING man! Hats off to you.

I love that the bottomline here is that humans are amazing. It is why I travel.

But as a woman travelling alone, I admit that I dare throw myself into such a situation. For all the airy fairy ideas in my head of how people should be, I would rather not tempt the ones who are not. I dared to hitchhike on a short stretch in a town where the supermarket was a far ways down the road from my hostel -- and it went swell. Once with a family and once with two boys who were very excited to have some ladies in their car.

Similar note, a local guy walked my friend home on that same stretch in the dark of night after a night out in the pubs. She had her senses on her and he was nice. But for 3 nights after, he showed up in our hostel in the middle of night to knock on her door and ask to "hang out". So I know these unexpected behaviours can happen, I'd rather not give it that much room to happen.

Sometimes it all comes down to gut feeling.