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Australia: Day 14: Hitch-hiking from Snowy Mountains to Melbourne

Since my tent was set on the side road I got up early, made a sign for Melbourne and packed everything in my backpacks.

Melbourne sign, WIP

My camping area near The Big Boggy, right tributary of Thredbo river

2 hours of waiting in on the foggy road, but then the sun came out and an older couple gave me a lift for 18 kilometres. They dropped me off near Tom Groggin campground, where I wanted to camp yesterday.

Another older couple stopped and they took me all the way for 200 kilometres to Wodonga.  We had a stop in Corryong, where we had a short break with lunch in a park. At this point we also crossed the border from New South Wales to Victoria and we drove along the longest Australian river, Murray River.

I continued hitch-hiking on the motorway just outside Wodonga. A guy with Iveco van stopped and he we continued towards Melbourne. Paul Ladd, my driver, was an inventor and he was mostly working with surf boards and aeronautics so we had a nice conversation for 250 kilometres.

I didn't take me long and a miss with Honda Civic stopped on Hume Highway and she took me to Newport, Melbourne. While we were talking she liked the idea of Couch-Surfing and if she wouldn't have guests at home, she would invited me to stay. 70 kilometres passed very quick and that was the finish of my hitch-hiking.

I took the train from Newport to the city centre of Melbourne.

For the train I had to buy a special card, called myki and add some credit to it.

Hello Melbourne

In the city centre I turned on my laptop and checked if anyone responded to my CouchSurfing request. Unfortunately no luck at all, so I went to a nearby hostel. Because of the F1 event over the weekend they were full. The guy at the reception also called two other hostels but the story was the same. So I pulled out my lonely planet and I saw another hostel a couple of meters away. The reception was closed, nobody answered to the phone number written at the door, but luck was on my side again. One guy just let me in and while I was cruising around in the hostel I finally  found someone who gave me a bed. After a nice shower everything was perfect again.

Travelled more than 500 kilometres with hitch-hiking