Backpacker Murders: Hitchhiking Do's and Don'ts...

Australia's Sinister Warning to all International Tourists...

I’m stuck. I’m in a hostel outside of Jindabyne ski town, and my bus to Melbourne is about to leave without me. There’s no bus, no taxi, no friendly hand around the hostel to get me to the town—and the thought of walking up the mountain, crossing the lake, and braving the mushy snow and pouring rain kind of sucks…a lot.

At this point, my only option is to hitchhike. Find the main highway, step up to the curve, and throw that thumb out, hoping a nice old granny with toddlers will be the one to stop.

This thought is particularly unnerving, the timing could not be worse for me to be in this situation. Not even 24 hours ago I was riding shot gun in a minibus with an Aussie named Phil. As we pulled out of Sydney he pointed casually to a forest and told me they found another backpacker’s body there 2 days ago.

“Another one? Has there been more than one backpacker killed?”

“Have you not heard of the backpacker murders? You know the movie, Wolf Creek, was based on the backpacker murderer of Sydney.”

…then Phil, graciously, proceeded to scare the crap out of me.

As the story started to unfold, it sounded vaguely familiar. I remember a couple high school teenage boys trying to tell me a story along these lines, but I laughed it off thinking they were just trying to give me a scare. (These boys were not to be trusted, they were the same to convince me that there actually existed Drop Bears in Australia.)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULEQpUY_crc&feature=related-- What's a Drop Bear?]

The Backpacker Murders are a warning tale for every young traveler. In the early 1990s, 7 bodies were found, most of them in the Belanglo Forest just outside Sydney, NSW. The backpackers came from Australia, England and Germany, and they were all between the ages of 19-22 years old.

Ivan Milat was convicted and found guilty of murdering the backpackers, and is serving a 7 consecutive life sentences today. He was a roadside worker, and he chose victims as they were hitchhiking in and out of the Sydney area.

The locals say that he used to stab them in the back of their necks first, to paralyze the victims yet keep them alive for whatever twisted things he planned to do. The bodies were found in all sorts of conditions, shot, and riddled with bullets and stab wounds through the neck and torso. One poor backpacker was even decapitated and stabbed post-mortem. Since 1996 he’s been jailed, and yet 2 days ago it’s been proven that locals fear the worst, that there may be many more victims unknown and yet to be found.

Jindabyne town might just be a quick 30-45 minutes ride away…but the timing for this predicament just seems too eerie. Every day, as travelers (and in all walks of life I suppose), we’re forced to make decisions. The reality is that some of these decisions will backfire on us.

I’ve been stranded before: in train stations in the middle of the night in India; on the side of road in Bangkok since the bus broke down; lost in Chinese cities where no one speaks English or cares to help… For the most part I’ve made it out OK, but every once in a while I’ve had those close calls. Police raids, military coups, fights, robbery, tropical diseases, just to name a few. Memories I have worked hard to repress, and won’t bring them up here.

And yet, I know that in an hour’s time I won’t have any other choice but to hitch. This is something I ALWAYS try to avoid, since traveling as a white, female, single traveler brings enough trouble as it is, and I never really wanted to add to that plate.

This is it though, what life on the road is all about isn’t it? Travel plans go awry, things are forced out of your control, and sometimes the only thing you can do is let go, ride with chance, have faith in the kindness of strangers and hope to come out alright on the other side.

If You Do Need to Hitch:

• don't walk too far away from accommodation or towns, if you end up not finding a ride you at least know how to get back
• start hitching early, catch people on their way to work between 7-8am
• don't hitch at night, be sure to call it a day before the sun sets, and never accept a ride from someone in the dark
• tell someone where you're going and where you plan to be, even better is to have your own phone
• most importantly...don't be afraid to say 'No Thank You'--if you're getting creepy vibes from the person behind the wheel, trust your gut

PS- This has been posted days later, from the safety and comfort of a hostel room in Melbourne...so no worries, I made it OK thanks to the kindness of a Japanese backpacker on his way to the ski lifts!