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Australia: Day 12: Hitch-hiking From Sydney To Snowy Mountains

In the morning I left many of my things with Wyatt. I decided I will pick them up before I leave Australia and not carry them with me all the time. I was immediately lighter for around 20 kilograms. Wyatt drove me to the Town Hall Railway Station, where we said goodbye to each other and then I went on a train to Campbelltown, where I started hitch-hiking.

My first spot for hitch-hiking

After 2 hours of waiting for my ride finally two guys stopped. They were originally from England and they started their travel around the world, including Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, but they still didn't finish it after 10 years. Maybe they never will. They dropped me off after 29 kilometres on the Hume Motorway at the 7-Eleven Pheasants Nest South gas station, where I will have better chances to continue with my trip.

2nd spot: 7-Eleven Pheasants Nest South gas station

My second ride was a hunter and a dog breeder, who just sold one of his dogs, and he took me off of the motorway and showed me some spots around the area. He also had some other dogs on his truck and on one corner we almost lost one. The dog slipped from the truck and was caught by his leash, that was strapped to the truck, so he was hanging off of the truck. We stopped and the driver put his dog back on the truck and the dog didn't even bark or cry. The scene wasn't nice, but in the end everyone was OK. After 55 kilometres he dropped me off at another gas station.

3rd spot near Penrose State Forrest

Couple of minutes passed and I was already in another truck. A Ford driver, with strange double stick gearbox and old school cruise control, took me 60 kilometres closer to my destination, to Goulburn.

Cafe Merino near the place where I was catching my 4th ride

4th driver was a young local motor-biker and also a hunter with a girlfriend from Latvia, therefore we talked about motorbikes and animals on our 110 km long way.

 

Short lunch break on my way to Cooma.

My 5th lift was a guy with from Cooma, working in Canberra and he took me all the way to his city, 87 kilometres. He had a very popular car for Australia and NZ, Ford Falcon. This car is sold almost exclusively in Australia and New Zealand and also South Africa.

In Cooma I visited Tourist Information Centre and I did some shopping for my hike tomorrow.

  

In the city I checked the Centennial Park and Avenue of Flags, where they still have an old Yugoslavian flag.

 

6th hitch-hike of the day in Cooma

After a short walk to the suburb of the city I started catching a ride again and soon a guy with a Mercedes G stopped. He was a farmer on a small farm (yeah right), with Polish wife and 40 cows and 1100 sheep (80% merino, 20% normal ones for food). After 33 kilometres he dropped me off in Berridale.

7th place to continue towards Snowy Mountains

This time I shared a car with a lady from Jindabyne, born in the capital of New South Wales. After 30 kilometres she dropped me off in her home town and told me that the walk by their lake is nice, so I followed her advice and took the small hike.

Jindabyne Lake is located approximately 2 kilometres south south-east of the relocated town of Jindabyne. At 100% capacity the dam wall holds back 688,227 megalitres of water. Lake receives the flow from the Snowy River as well as its tributaries, the Thredbo River and Eucumbene River.

Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki was exploring the Snowy Mountains region and climbed Australia's highest peak. He discovered gold and silver in New South Wales, coal deposits in Tasmania, investigated the possibilities of irrigation, measured the heights of mountains, carried out soil analysis and collected and identified many fossils and minerals.

Cub Island in Lake Jindabyne

Sun was already going down and I still needed a couple of kilometres to my planned destination, Ngarigo campground on Thredbo River.

While I was walking by the lake a guy on the bicycle gave me an energy drink. Thanks!

Last hitch-hiking place of the day. If I will not be successful I will probably camp in a camp-site in the city, but it's worth to continue, since my chosen camp-site 20 kilometres away is free and free is good.

And I did it. Ngarigo Campground. Last guys that picked me up for 24 kilometres were from Poland and they were working in Thredbo. They were just returning from shopping (car was full of beers) in the city.

500 kilometres of hitch-hiking in 14 hours