Hitchhiking in New Zealand: Fox Glacier
12th of July, 2025.
I ask for leftovers in a pub. The nice manager, a short and young lady tells me I can come back later, between 21 and 22.00 hours, so there might be something that she could give me. We also talk about places where I could camp. She’s very helpful and tells me about a certain man who always helps backpackers around here, but she doesn’t tell me neither his name or address, she only tells me to come back later night, so he will be here and she can point me in his direction. Great! Middle time, I will try my chances and ask around.
The first house I knock, a very senior man, using his walker, struggles to come by the window and talk with me. As I don’t see any one else around the house, I decide not ask him for help and just move on.
Then I knock at Red’s door. That’s when everything changes.
I knocked at his door for a couple of different reasons. I see a small cabin in the back; he has Christmas lights hanging in front of his house; and together with the name Red, there are balloons drawn in his front door (which is made of glass). OK, those were three reasons.
As Red opens the door, I quickly tell him why I’m asking for his help, and he immediately tells me to follow him, walking towards the cabin in the back of his house, the one I saw it before. There’s a king size bed on it, a bunk bed, and some other homie stuff. He tells me I can stay there. I can’t believe it! It’s now raining a little bit. I tell him I’ve got some leftovers from the pub later night, so he doesn’t need to worry about that. And that’s that. Yay!
I get settled. Soon enough, Red brings me a small but very useful heater. I work in my photos for a while. I’m starving. I wish I could go to collect the leftovers earlier.
It’s raining for some time, so I pack my laptop and important belongings in a big plastic bag and get ready to go to the pub. The rain has stopped though. Yay!
As I arrive a bit earlier, I’m planning to send some messages while using their WiFi, but they don’t have one. Luckily, a nice waitress tells me the password for a helicopter company just beside the pub. I check my messages and send some others, then I walk inside.
There’s a birthday party going one (I knew about that), so the place is full. I freak out a little, but I try to help myself by concentrating in how the people behind the bar work. Dear Loki, they do a fine job! How the heck do they manage to do so many things at the same time, and keep track of all the costumers, I have no idea. There’s life music for the birthday and they play some really nice classic rocks from the 60’s and 70’s, my favourites. I wait for some time. No worries. I can see how busy they are.
There’s one guy helping the bar workers. He seems very chill and super nice. Perhaps that’s why he’s just helping out, not really taking orders or anything like that. He’s really calm. The lady with whom I talked earlier tells him what to prepare for me. He’s so kind that he comes and asks me two things: 1) if I would like some fries too or only a pie (to what I answer – fries please, I’m really hungry!); 2) if I want something to drink as well (to what I answer – no thanks, just the food is already awesome!)
After some time he gives me a take a way package. For the weigh of it, it’s a huge portion. I’m so excited! I tell him many times thank you and then I run back home. I literally run back home because there are some super loud thunderstorms. But I manage to get back before the rain. Yes!
Dear Loki the food is amazing! The pie is the most stylish pie I would ever have in New Zealand. I call it pie with attitude. All the other pies in NZ look like the same, but this one is very peculiar. And delicious! The lady from the pub was kind enough to ask me if I was vegetarian. How sweet! So she gave me a vegetarian pie. And it’s made of red beans curry! So tasty! And don’t even make me start on the size of the fries portion. To resume, I’ve had half pie and half fries, so I can keep the other half for tomorrow lunch. What about tomorrow breakfast? I’m planning on having that really good looking caramel oats slice which Jackie gave me earlier. But everything would change.
13th of July, 2025.
I wake up to a heavy rain. Well, technically it started already last night. So it carried on through the night. Damn it! My plan was to go early morning to Lake Matheson (the only reason why I came here to Fox Glacier, as I have no interest in the Glacier itself), to have my lunch there and come back around midday to start hitchhiking towards Greymouth. But that’s old news now.
I come to Red’s house hopping to use the toilet and talk about the weather. I know he should be home because I see the smoke coming out of the chimney. He opens the door very friendly and welcoming me inside. His house is a very lovely wooden cabin. And super strong too. Earthquake resistant.
We start talking and I tell him everything about my travels. He offers to make us breakfast. We have eggs, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes and toasts with tea. Amazing! What a breakfast! And I also use the toilet.
Red tells me that the weather prediction is raining all day. Damn you, New Zealand! So I ask him if it’s OK for me to stay another night in his cabin, and he says it all good. And so we kept on talking.
From the moment I came to his house in the morning, around 10 o’clock, until when I go to sleep, soon before 23.00 hours, we are chatting in his living room. In the afternoon, when he goes to do some grocery shopping, I eat my lunch from last night. It’s still yummy. And for dessert I finally have my caramel oat slice. It’s so good!
When Red comes back, he puts a glass of wine in front of me and says: “One glass off Chardonnay for the lady…” I’m like – whaaaat! The thing is, when we were talking earlier, we also got to talk about wine, and I told him that my favourite wine is Chardonnay. Just as a fact. I would never imagined that he would by a Chardonnay especially for me, as he himself doesn’t like it. He likes red wine and that’s what he bought for himself. I cannot believe it! OK, I’m super happy and honored but he simply shouldn’t. Anyway, he also gets us some chips (including my favourite, Doritos), chocolate (I know, it’s awesome!), and the Kiwi dip (which I’m so happy to finally be able to try it, and it’s delicious!). To finish up the night we also some pizza. I’m so full!
I take a shower later and then go to sleep. The plan for tomorrow is, no matter how good the weather is, I’m hitchhiking out of Fox Glacier as soon as I can. I cannot get stuck here another night. Even though it’s been a wonderful day in Red’s company and extreme generosity and welcoming attitude, but I’ve got keep going. I know it’s a shame to miss Lake Matheson, afterwards I came all the way here mostly for it, but for some reason I was not supposed to see it.
14th of July, 2025.
It’s a blue sky and sunny day. But eventually some showers pass by. Red and I have breakfast together and soon after I start hitchhiking. While I’m waiting by the road, two helicopters trip happen. And I’ve heard they are expensive. There’s a beautiful view of the glacier from down here so I’m happy for that.
After about one hour waiting, I’m rescued by a Geologist.
10 Years Around the World 