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Queenstown is a fantastic small town with fantastic small shops and restaurants, but if you need to do a big shop the only choice is to leave town. The next town over is called Frankton and to be honest there is not really a great dividing point between the two. Queenstown airport is located in Frankton, which can be confusing when you apply for a job in Queenstown and they send you to the Queenstown airport in Frankton, but that’s another story. All of the big chain stores are over in Frankton and the Remarkables Park Shopping Center, which sits almost directly at the base of the Remarkables mountain range. There are no Walmarts in New Zealand; instead they have a similar store called the Warehouse. It’s not quite a cheap as Walmart but they probably treat the employees better, so I guess that’s the trade off. There is also a large discount grocery store out there called New World. Well unless you are just on a quick vacation to Queenstown, you will probably, at least at some point, need to make a run out to the Remakables Park for something.
Getting there is the biggest issue because most people living in Queenstown do not have a car. There is no real need for one in town because everything is within comfortable walking distance. There is a lovely walking path along the lake that connects the two towns. It is quite a walk though at just under 10 kilometers each way and if you are going for a big shop, its unreasonable to think that you will be able to carry all of the stuff back that far. Another option is to take the connect-a-bus which run every 25 minutes or so and costs $6 each way. Not a bad option because it makes it easier to get you and your stuff back and forth but if you are going out to the Remarkables Park because its cheaper and then you add the $12 it costs to get you out there and back it very much reduces your savings. The other option is to hitchhike. Queenstown is a very hitchhiker friendly town, in fact, that is some peoples sole source of transportation.
I have always wanted to try to hitchhike but have always chickened out at the last minute. My friend Steph and I needed to go out to Remarkables Park this morning to go to the Warehouse and the DMV (I am going to get a Kiwi drivers license!). Since neither of use had ever hitched before and we weren’t in any hurry, we decided that we would give it a try. We started walking up to the road that leads out of Queenstown toward Frankton, thinking that we should at least be on the right street before sticking out thumbs out. Did you know that you really do have to stick your thumb out? It is a little bit embarrassing and one of us would stick a thumb out and then start laughing and put it back down before the cars even got to where we were. Finally, we managed to hold our thumbs out as we kept walking a little further. Three cars passed us without stopping, a girl alone in her car (fair enough), a lady with an elderly lady in the front seat (don’t blame them) and a guy is his work truck (of course you cant pick up hitchhikers while your working). Then, the next car that drove past was a middle-aged guy in a red truck and he actually stopped! We ran up to the window and asked if he was going toward Frankton, which he was. So we hopped in, me in the front seat and the other Steph in the backseat.
There was absolute silence as we drove along. It was so awkward that I felt like I had to say something so this is my re-enactment of the conversation. Me: “So, you live in Queenstown?” Guy: “Yes.” Me: “Have you been here long?” Guy: “10 years.” Me: “Where are you from originally?” Guy: “Croatia, but I’m sure you’ve never heard of that.” Me: “Well, actually I was an international politics major at university and we had several classes where we discussed Croatia and its part in the break up of the former Yugoslavia in the late 80’s and early 90’s.” Stunned look comes across mans face. Guy: “Girls don’t usually study politics. It’s usually all about the Iphone and their pretty dresses. So much for women’s liberation. All that fuss so that they can be even dumber than before.” Me: “uh huh.” Guy: “just because you studied doesn’t mean that you actually know anything. There is a difference between knowledge and studying.” Me: “Oh I completely agree that there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.” Guy: “blah blah blah girls are stupid blah blah blah where are you two going in Frankton?” Me: “The Warehouse in Remarkables Park. So what is it that you do?” Guy: “I’m a professional hunter. I just got back last night from the US where I was at a Sierra Club meeting. You see that mountain over there? I own that mountain.” Poorly disguised look of disbelief on my face that this man actually owned the Remarkables Mountain Range. Guy: “Well its my western border. I have a ranch over there on the other side where I take hunting groups.” By this time he had pulled into the shopping center and right to the front door of the Warehouse to drop us off. Me: “Well, thanks for the lift. This is the first time we have ever hitched and you were so nice so thanks.” Guy: “If you had been a couple of bimbos I would have dropped you off back there on the main road but since you weren’t I decided to bring you all the way here.” Me: “Well thanks again.”
Practically door-to-door service. Who would have guessed it? Now I’m sure that it will never work that well again but what a great first hitchhiking experience. Other than that whole girls are stupid thing it was fantastic.