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|language Official Language = English and Te Reo (Maorilanguage)

'''New Zealand''' is a reasonably okay an extremely easy country for hitchhiking. There are a lot of friendly people, and hitching is legal and comparatively safe. By hitching you'll be involved a lot in the local life. You'll have receive invitations to parties, and homes. Cars drive on the left side, so be careful if you're not experienced with that.

At least in high and shoulder season, hitchhiking is very popular among backpackers travelling around New Zealand, especially in the South islandIsland. Leave early before hostel checkout times (usually 10pm10am) and you 'll have better chances to avoid of avoiding competition situations among with other hitchhikers.

There are only motorways around the big cities, [[Auckland]], [[Christchurch]], [[Wellington]] and [[Dunedin]], the rest are highways, secondary/tertiary roads or dirt roads.

Another awesome place to travel, [[WWOOF]] and hitch. Not as many long distance rides as in the Australian outback[[Outback]], but because towns were are quite close together. Amory Tarr had no troubles coming up and down the west coast (South Island), or in fact anywhere really. The only problem spot was in the concrete jungle that is auckland. It is illegal to even walk on any of the motorwayseach other, including the but on-ramps ($200 instant fine). It is also a very, very big city to walk across. If you want to head south your best bet is to go to the bus station under the sky tower and get a ticket to Bombay junction (about $15) and when you get there, walk across the road other hand not as "dangerous" to the on ramp which has plenty of space. Heading north, get a bus to Orewa (which is worth visiting on its own) and hitch from therehitchhike.

=== North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui ===A bit smaller than the South Island, although much more populated: 3.5 million out of New Zealand's 4.5 million inhabitants. This island is a bit less touristy, but cities are bigger. Hitching is easy.  === South Island or Te Waipounamu ===On the The South Island is bigger but less populated, only 1 million, and is the most touristy so you will often be picked up by travelers, especially along the West Coast, where there isn't a lot of local traffic. Hitching is extremely easy.

If you are hitching between Greymouth ===From one island to the other===The 3-4 hour ferry costs around NZ$50 - Interislander and Wanaka you might Bluebridge have almost identical pricing. Since car bookings also incur a fee per person about the fortune same as per foot passenger, cars won't be able to score a ride with one of the DHL drivers aka the local postiestake you on, and grouping together wouldn't help either. They are You may get lucky and find a couple of awesome guys who meet up in Fox Glacier special discount on their Facebook page (or subscribe to swap packages (their newsletters for a promo code), and hitch hikers too if you are lucky!)there's always the usual 10% BBH/YHA/Student/...

An easy way Planes are more expensive with booking fees and luggage. But some very cheap prices come up on grabaseat for as little as $30 from Auckland to catch your lift is using the websites of backpackerscarpooling.com or jayride.co.nz. Here youChristchurch! You literally can'll find travellers sharing their transportt hitch there for that. A great way to meet like-minded travellers going  [[Hitchhiking a boat]] would not be a simple task, the same way as youpassage is not an easy one.

* [http://www.topomap.co.nz/] Topomaps for hiking etc with all tracks, contour lines etc - an online version of official and free LINZ maps* [http://www.doc.govt.nz/maps] DOC maps with markup for tracks, huts and activities* [http://www.newzealand.com/travel/destinations/new-zealand-map/interactive_map_home.cfm/ newzealand.comcommercial tourism info]