3
edits
Changes
m
== Hitching ==
Around Auckland there are a lot of highways. The multilane roads on which cyclists and pedestrians are excluded are called motorways. The main highway, State Highway 1, is a motorway as it passes through the city and suburbs. It is possible to get rides from on ramps that have a suitable berm for the vehicles to stop. Not all on ramps allow for this. Alternatively, you should get to the "service centre" dedicated to motorway traffic where you can find rides easily. It is between the Papakura and Drury motorway off ramps.
To get to service centreIn Auckland, get a train to papakura and then outside papkura train station you can either try to get a bus ride from in the city or try to take you down great get further south road i think #475 bus which costs on the train to Papakura from Britomart ($28 without a HOP card). just It'll probably take a couple of rides for you to get off anywhere around #490 great south rdout of the city. If you walk get someone who can drop you in Bombay Hills, you'll be sweet! Buses are now pretty expensive to get to Bombay, so itmay not be worth it unless you get lucky with your tickets. === From Papakura === There's a service station, but it takes about 30-40minutes. is not as easy to get to as once you are near #490ish there before (the hole in the fence is a st called parkhaven on your rightgone). walk Your best bet is to go start hitchhiking and walking down park haven rd great south road, and follow it as it bends leftsomeone will likely stop for you within 20 minutes. at Train to Papakura and then caught the end of parkhaven there bus to Drury which is a grassy areafew minutes down the road. look There's plenty of space for cars to your right at pull over before the wood fence next to go onto the last housemotorway from here. There should be isn't a fairly large hole in the wooden fence which brings you heap of traffic going onto the grounds of the service area. However, on the 20th May 2013 the hole was still in the fence, motorway but there was a house being built on the grassy area's so much space. It should still be possible to use the hole for Waited ~5 mins and got a while, but an alternative route ride to the service centre may need to be sought in the futureRotorua.
But once you're at the service centre, it's so easy to get a ride :) http://goo.gl/maps/MTUl=== From Center ===
A more risky I actually now think this is the best option that , as it saves you a few bucks and you can walk have to sit on a train for an hour otherwise anyway. You'll likely be dropped in Papakura.# Walk to the end of Hobson Street, where it crosses Pitt Street. Cross the road to where there is a left only turning lane onto the motorway. Stand on the pavement about 3-4 meters away from the city centre lights. The cars almost always have to stop here before going onto the motorway. I've used this spot twice and it only took 20 minutes each time.EDIT on 21/06/2021: the author must have meant that you should stand at the Pitt street, right at the left lane that is at turning to the motorway. At the on-ramp at the top of Symons Symonds Street, close to the CBD. Walk down the on ramp and there is a big footpath you can stand on and plenty of space for people to stop. try EDIT on 21/06/2021 - the Symonds street option seems useless now as the pavement is fenced now and as soon as the fence ends, the motorway begin. Hence there isn't any spot there for the car to get a ride at least to the bombay hills gas stationpull over.
__NOTOC__
[[trash:Auckland]]
→From Center
'''Auckland''' is [[New Zealand]]'s biggest city.It is illegal to even walk on any of the motorways, including the on-ramps ($200 instant fine). == Hitching Out ==
=== From the airport ===
It's easy to hitch a ride to the city center (instead of paying 15 NZD$ for the bus). Just walk out of the airport, go right and find the Shell station and ask around. ([[User:Guaka|Guaka]] got a ride for himself and another guy, from the first person he asked there.) Just make sure you go to the right petrol station. Dan went to the Countdown station, where a lot of the traffic was heading north...
=== South towards [[Hamilton (New Zealand)|Hamilton]], [[Taupo]], [[Tauranga]], [[Wellington]] ===
=== North ===
Apparently there's a gas station on the highway as well. <!-- please confirm --> There is also a Countdown petrol station right outside of the airport (closer than the Shell station) where a lot of the traffic seemed to be heading north.
There is a service centre near silverdale turn off on northern motorway before orewa and the toll road. If you can hitch from here there is a good amount of traffic going up far north.
Another good option is to take a bus to Orewa (which is worth visiting on its own) and hitch from there, Buses leave from Wellesley st West, near the sky tower. Take the 994 or 895, a few buses will take you there just read the timetables. Also you can leave from the north shore no problem, bus' leave from takapuna or Akoronga station, which is a bus station right on the northern motorway.
Itll cost you maybe 4 dollars to get to Orewa (one can say that theyre going to an earlier stop - Albany for example and itll cost less and god knows nobody will check)
Once you get to orewa there is a really good road to hitch from -Hibiscus coast "highway" (its really just a road, there's lots of space to pull over. This road is long and straight and near the beach, To go north head towards the hill, there is a dairy with a car parl where I often hang out and wait for lifts.
Once you get going here it's pretty easy to go anywhere north, New Zealand is one of the easiest places in the world to hitch hike, you dont even need a sign, just chuck your thumb out and look friendly.
== Bad Spots ==
There are some BAD SPOTS to get rides from in Auckland. So you may wish to avoid the following;
'''Pukekohe''' - though it is close to the motorway, it's hard for people to stop
'''Hobson Street''' - although it looks like a good spot, it's better to walk to the intersection with Pitt Street as above. I think there's too much traffic for people to safely stop. I actually spoke to some guys who waited 6 hours here without getting a lift.
== Nomadwiki & Trashwiki ==
{{nomadwiki}}
[[Category:New Zealand]]