Hitch hiking from Cairns to Airlie Beach is the first real hitching I have attempted. I have picked up short rides here and there but nothing like this. The closest I had done was getting from the highway to Hervey Bay but that is not even close. This was a much longer distance and, to me at least, was real hitch hiking. Given my novice status, I did not know what I was doing other than some advice from people I have met that have done a lot of hitching (very valuable information), some information I have read, and common sense. That last sentence is not supposed to sound like I was getting myself into trouble or any danger, intentionally or otherwise. I was confident I was not and would not put myself in harm's way. What I did mean by that sentence is that I was travelling without much food and no water but it would be a bit until I realized this.
I first got a ride from just outside of Cairns (to which I walked) to the main highway from some guy and his son. Then I got a ride heading south. My hope was to get to Airlie Beach that day but it became clear that I was not going to make it that far. The ride I got going south was from an Australian who had been living out of his van some some time and was headed south to for a job interview (his employment history was spotty. I gathered his last job was a "security officer" which really meant he was a bouncer, which was funny because he was about my size). He was only going about half the way to Airlie, to Townsville, where he was going to camp for the night. From there I tried to get a ride going all the way to Airlie but everybody that pulled over would only take me as far as Townsville. So I asked around in the campsite if anybody was headed south the following day.
As my luck would have it, just about everybody was going north and the people that were going south did not have room or were going such a short distance that it would not have been worthwhile for me to accept their ride. I managed to find one older guy that was travelling alone that said he could take me part of the way and from where I could get another ride. I accepted and we arranged to meet the following morning. I want mention some observations about this campsite that I noticed while trying to find a ride. First, this place was packed. There must have been about 100 people there. Second, I could not believe the percentage of its population that was above the age of 40. Probably only myself, the guy that drove me there, and two or three backpacker couples were under 40, plus the kids of some adults. If I had to estimate I would guess that more than 50% of the people were above 50. And just about everybody was Australian. I think just me and the two backpacker couples were the only non-Aussies. This was cool to me. I wonder if there is a similar distribution in campsites in the States.
In this campsite is where my lack of food became apparent. I had not really be hungry all day probably because I was too preoccupied with getting a ride to notice that I had not eaten all day. As I mentioned, my food supply was limited: I had about a third of a loaf of bread and some gummy bears. The guy that gave me a ride gave me a cider so I also had that. I finished the gummy bears and had about 2/3 of the loaf that remained planning on eating the rest for breakfast. It occurred to me that I could have asked the guy to give me a lift to get some food and I know he would have done so but I figured not only had a brought this upon myself but I have eaten much less over much longer periods of time when food was much more readily available so I decided just to stick it out. I set up my tent, set my alarm, and went to sleep.
I awoke in plenty of time to pack up and meet my ride. After I had all my stuff ready to go I sat down to enjoy my 1/9 of a loaf of bread for breakfast when I discovered that some animal had gotten to it during the night. At this point I was pretty damn hungry so I tore off the parts of the slices of bread that had been touched/bitten and ate the remainder slowly as I could while walking over to find my ride. I have forgotten his name also but we got along well but I am going to call him Bob for simplicity. Bob is in his 60s, his wife had passed away a few years back and he was going up and down the coast visiting friends and family, including his kids. Bob hails from Tasmania, which is the island off the southeast tip of Australia and is considered one of the most beautiful places in the country. I told him I planned on visiting Tasmania when I returned to Australia and he said doing so was a good idea and that most tourist do not bother, which is a mistake.
I got the feeling that Bob was very happy to have me as company. He ended up driving me about an hour past where he originally said he would, justifying doing so out loud by saying he would have just down it the next day so why not help me out. We got to a junction of two highways where he was going to go left to visit an old friend and I needed to go right. He pulled over, gave me his address in Tasmania telling me to let him know when I make it down there, we said our goodbyes, and he headed off. I walked for about 10 seconds before I was picked up again by some woman, who I am going to call Bobette because I cannot remember her name either. Bobette just bought the van she picked up in from Townsville and was driving really, really far south over a couple days. I just needed a lift for 1-1.5 hours but she clearly was happy to have the company. Bobette had several teeth missing, wore age-inappropriate clothing, and was too honest with a stranger she had just picked up off the side of a highway. Maybe she looked at it like a time to say whatever to somebody that she would never see again. I do not know. The ride was filled with uncomfortable silences and when she let me out I wished her, and the two kids she left unattended at home, well.
From where Bobette dropped me off I was in another situation like I was in trying to get to Hervey Bay. Airlie Beach was on the shore, off the main highway. Unlike Hervey, I was not on the main route this time. It took a long time to get a ride; I started scouting camping sites while walking and not getting picked up. Finally somebody stopped. This guy (we never exchanged names) works for the tourism industry in the area and was happy to help out a tourist. His car was air conditioned and heavenly. We chatted a bit and I got some questions answered about the tourism industry in Australia and the area. (I am often curious about, for example, what percentage of the national or local economy comes from tourism, particularly in places where it seems tourism is to prevalent.) He dropped me off on the main drag and told me to go to some bar that night and say hello to his daughter, Lucy.
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