The best part about travelling alone is meeting all the other travellers and for the most part these encounters have been great.
In Tongariro National Park I befriended one of the Hut Wardens (smth like a forest or park ranger in the States) as I was waiting out a long and nasty rain in his hut. As I finished my hike I went down to the Hut Warden quarters and partied with European forest rangers for a weekend. Hut warden life is a bit like NCC: international, complete with gossip, staggered shifts and lots of utilisation.
After Tongariro, I hitchhiked to New Plymouth ( I got two long rides: one with an elderly couple who were bored and went out of their way just to listen to my stories and drop me off closer to my final destination. And second from a 7 months pregnant mom), hoping to climb mt. Taranaki. When I got there, the park information lady tried talking me out of it, saying that the hike "was more for the locals and not tourists". Apparently foreigners are too soft to handle Taranaki and usually do a two day flat hike. Besides it's way hard to get to the trailhead without a car ( a shuttle is prohibitively expensive). I started thinking of giving up when I saw a guy with an ice axe (and car keys) - we hiked the mountain together.
Turned out he is a Swiss medical student. The winter and studies were too much for him ("I have this bad feeling inside"), so he took a self-appointed three week leave to New Zealand to get his spirits up.
Finally, I've befriended a Danish girl who's been sailing around New Zealand and now wants to hike it. We're heading to Wellington together tomorrow.
So much for being alone all the time.
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