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I hitchhiked around the entire country with $1 in 2016 starting and ending in Melbourne passing every major city and lots of small towns in between during wet season which took about 7 weeks, including a day of not a single offer of a ride up in a tiny town Northern Territory (after 12 hours and sunburn on my hitchhiking arm a local I'd chatted to while getting a flat white and a pie at 6 a.m passed me at 6 p.m and took me home fed me watered me gave me internet, laundry and a lift to the same spot next morning where after 30 minutes I got a ride) and a week of being invited into a local's home. Hitchhiking is my lifestyle, and in Australia especially it is respected as such, even though now, in 2023 most drivers I meet tell me they hardly see any hitchhikers anymore
Hitchhikernick - I have visited nearly every nook and cranny of Australiaover the course of several visits; in 2015-16 WHV, 2019 June-Aug and 2023 July-Sept. Pick up times have varied from seconds to 3 days. The longest wait was in Kununurra heading towards Catherine where I waited 3 days with my skis and had to follow the shade of the speed sign at edge of town in 35 centegrade centigrade heat, thankfully there were hospitable locals who helped me out until i finally got a lift. I managed to reach Cape York and climb Uluru (Ayres Rock), with my skis, in my 2019 visit 😁
I saw stunning places that I never envisaged in Australia. I never had issues with cops anywhere except for Queensland where they do actually enforce the law against hitching, so you gotta be careful and discreet in that territory.