Hitchhiking in New Zealand: Reefton

Hitchhiking in New Zealand: Reefton

13th of July, 2025.

I think Grant is the first Geologist I’ve ever met. And it’s inevitable for me to remember of TBBT. I tell him that. He laughs.

Again, I make the mistake of not taken a photograph with him. His looks so cool! He has a long and white beard, and he’s wearing a TLOTR t-shirt. No, he’s not Gandalf. How do I know it? Well, he has this also super cool retro aviator frame glasses, and Gandalf doesn’t wear glasses. Yeah, I know is, that could be a disguise. I just thought of that now…

Anyway, he has a nice and calm way of talking, which makes he sound really wise (yeah, yeah, I know, Gandalf…). We talk about NZ but also a lot about permaculture. He has a small but very productive farm. He tells me all about his various fruits, vegetables, nuts and crops. He grows his own popcorn! It’s a very inspiring conversation. When he drops me off at Greymouth (he’s actually going to Westport, where he lives), he gives me a jar of his own popcorn and his own honey. I know it will be heavy to carry them but I don’t care, I must have it!

He drops me off at a McDonald’s, so I get directions to Reefton. Why am I going there? Simple. I could go all the way to Westport, it’s a nice drive by the coast and all that, but then tomorrow it would be 6 hours driving away from Picton. It’s doable but being in NZ makes me cautious. I wouldn’t worry about hitchhiking that distance in Russia or Japan, you see? But here… Plus there’s the chance of road blocks and flood. I better be cautious.

I’m messaging Steve, the nice Māori man who gave me a lift from Rolleston to Geraldine, a few days ago, because he lives in Reefton. Even though he’s not back from his trip just yet, he offers for me to stay in either his home or with one of his two daughters.

When I ask for cardboard and a marker in the gas station, I start talking with the nice guy working there, Colt. When he sees where I’m going he said he’s heading there later, but that’s only around 22.00 hours, when he finishes his shift. But he tells me about his mum, and the cabin she has in the back of her house, where I could possibly stay. She raises Guinea pigs for selling. We exchange Instagrams and I will be waiting for his message.

Now I have already two possible places where I can stay tonight.

And then Kathleen stops for me. Everything would change.

When she stops for me she said that she asked god if she should help me and he said yes. So she did.

Kathleen is in her 60’s and she lives alone in Reefton. She was shopping for some plants and fruit trees in Greymouth. Even though she has four boys, they are not very close. She has had difficult childhood because of her parents, and her ex-husband is also not the best person. As we talk, it’s kind of decided that I will stay with her tonight, even thought neither I or her actually ask the question. And she would joke about that later.

Her house looks lovely from outside, with a large garden, front and back, which she has many different plants, fruit trees and veggies.

The inside of her house is mostly filled with different supplies. Apart from the bedrooms. She has a huge storage with mostly everything, not only food, but that’s her biggest thing. She likes to be prepared for Winter and in case something happens. And she really got everything. There’s so much food, that I panicked a little bit, just wondering about how many things we could make it.

Kathleen treats me more than like a guest but as a granddaughter. She could be my mother but she spoils me so much that it feels way more like a granny than a mum. She arranges everything for me to take a nice shower, and even gives me a nightgown. She wants to make sure I’m warm enough.

We have dinner and ice cream afterwards.

She shows me some of her collections, like stones and miniature stuff. She also has many books, DVDs and CDs. She has a lot of everything.

14th of July, 2025.

My choice for breakfast if porridge, toast and coffee. Kathleen eats nothing.

She gives me a lot of stuff: charcoal and turmeric powder, a bottle of milk, condensed milk tube, apple, ginger candies, four boiled eggs for lunch, some cheese, and I make some muesli to take with me. She also gives me a pair of gloves, which I so much need. And I know she would like to give me much more, but I’m already carrying a huge load of stuff, and it’s heavy.

And then things get crazy in the morning…

My plan was to simply hitchhike outside of Reefton, towards Kaikoura. That would be a bit longer way to Picton, crossing Lewis Pass, but as I’ve checked the road blocks a few days ago, they were saying that the road which leads to the highway 63, a short cut to Picton through Wairau Valley, was closed.

When I tell this to Kathleen, she calls her son and ask him to check. He tells her that the roads are partially opened, only for locals and emergencies. Immediately as he tells her that, she asks him to book her a hotel somewhere because she has a hospital appointment. And then she explains her plan to me.

At first, she wanted to take me to Murchison, which is about one hour driving from here, and I already didn’t want for her to do that because that means two hours driving in total. But when her son told her about the roads, she figured out it would be difficult for me to get a lift all the way to Picton today, and decided to take me all the way there. Her son lives in Blenheim, a bigger town just before Picton, where she does have a medical appointment in a few weeks, and where her son lives. Her plan is to show her medical appointment in case there are police blocks, but also, to pick up a tire which her son ordered for her some time ago, and has now arrived from Wellington. I can’t argue with her. She tells me that this is what god told her to do, just as he had told her that someone was coming to visit her yesterday, and so she should tide up the house.

We start our driving soon after 10 o’clock.

We stop at Kerr Lake, which is absolutely gorgeous. It’s just like Lake Matheson with the difference that there’s almost nobody here, apart from two ladies, who soon depart. A beautiful black swan comes swimming towards us, and allows us to take some really close up shots.

I eat two of my boiled eggs and some of my cheese for lunch.

The drive is gorgeous and Wairau Valley is full of vineyards, being one of the biggest wine producers of NZ. We see very little cars on the way, meaning I would probably get stuck. If even when there’s loads of cars passing by I get stuck, can you imagine where there’s almost none?

There’s a lot of road workers around, as they are fixing the flood problems. Kathleen gives them biscuits, which she normally keeps in the car. A young man, looking like a teenager really, shows extreme surprise when we give him a package of cookies, and even asks: “Are you serious?”.

When we arrive to Blenheim, even though the plan was that I would hitchhike from here to Picton, Kathleen doesn’t let me and drive me all the way to Vonny’s house. I cannot believe she did that. Well, I cannot believe on how all of this has happened to me. I mean, I probably wouldn’t make it here today if it wasn’t for her, so our encounter it was meant to be. I guess that’s how life is it, and I just have to accept / apply that to every single aspect of my life.