Hitchhiking in the South Pacific?

Hey once again! Tried to search on the subject, but NOTHING came up.

We'd like to hitchhike to cut costs, and to get in touch with the locals.

Have you hitchhiked in the South Pacific? Where? How was it? Hard to get a lift?

Mainly I'm looking of experiences from New Caledonia, Fiji and the Cooks, but all input is appreciated...

At least Fiji is supposed to have cheap buses going nonstop all around to all places, but what about the others?

We've hitchhiked only back in Finland which was pretty safe. Is this the deal in the SP? We're a couple, so that brings us some extra security, I guess.

And if there's any places you WOULD NOT hitchhike - could you tell where that is and why?

Are you planning on staying on one island the whole time?

When walking people were always stopping and offering me lifts (middle aged woman).

I've accepted rides in the Cooks, French Polynesia, Tonga, American Samoa and Palau.

There is a good round island bus service that runs 6 days(?) a week in Rarotonga. I thought Aitutaki was walkable, certainly bikeable. Only hitched there because once my ride to church stood me up and I didn't have time to walk and once because I was caught in a torrential rain that showed no signs of letting up.

Just read recently, and I can't find the page but I think it was linked to one of the Cook Island newspapers, where a local included "Don't Hitchhike" in the to-do's, saying that locals don't want to see your disappointed face when they don't pick you up.

On Palau, one should contribute a bit toward gas money (learnt that from a resident's blog).

zach: How is that relevant?

silvanocat: Thanks for the info - apparently this can be done!

-J

In the South Pacific there really is no hitchhiking there's just standing there asking for a ride.

Like Silvano I've rec'd rides from people but always threw in something for gas

As someone from a rich country you're expected to act like someone with money and not sponge off others.

I've had similar experience on Fiji. Hitchhiking as such isn't too common, but if you're standing by or walking on a road people are likely to stop. However, they expect you throw in something for the gas. Also, you might find a guy driving along the road in a van asking people, standing by the road waiting for a bus to come by, if they want a lift. He's expecting people to pay the bus fare. (The advantage being that once the van is full, he doesn't make any more stops, so the ride is quicker than with the bus).

If it's just a matter of transport, buses are just as easy, and you don't have to worry about what payment the driver is expecting.

And if you want to meet locals, that is no problem whatsoever in Fiji. You don't need to hitch rides to make contact. Locals will be approaching you all the time. You might even get tired of the attention after a while.

Its relavant because there are 322 islands in Fiji and you can't hitchhike on about 312 of them because there aren't really any roads. These 312 islands are probably the better ones to visit.

In Solomon Islands, anyone driving who has room stops to pick up religious Brothers or Sisters, who have no choice but to walk, often long distances. But I have never seen a white person hitchhiking, and would probably not stop for them, as Harry above suggests, any white person there has more money than at least 90% of the locals. Besides, my car or truck would probably already be filled with wantoks.
Of course, just about anywhere there is a road, you can get a ride on the back of a truck or in a trailer pulled behind a tractor, for a dollar or two.

New Caledonia is one of the best places in tghe World to hitch.
Locals give rides quite easily (they know how scarce buses are!) and as they have money (being French citizens) they don't expect money as may well be the case in Vanuatu.
On Fiji public transport is quite frequent, so hitching might seem more odd except in obscure areas.

I've hitched certain stretches of the road around Savaii in Samoa without any difficulty.