Twitchhiker gives Kiwi hospitality ultimate test
24 Mar 2009
New Zealand’s legendary hospitality is being put to the ultimate test as the world’s first ‘Twitchhiker’ tweets his way south to his final destination.
Now relying solely on Kiwi goodwill, it’s a race against time as the Twitchhiker heads to Stewart Island - a small island south of New Zealand’s South Island - to meet the self-imposed challenge that has brought him halfway round the world on "a wing and a tweet".
The Twitchhiker’s journey has already taken him to Europe and the US, but now it’s New Zealand’s turn to give him something to write home about.
Twitchhiker on Twitter
Paul Smith aka Twitchhiker arrived in Auckland yesterday (23 March) and has until next Tuesday (31 March) to get as far south as he can while using Twitter - an online social networking service - to hitch his way.
Smith, a British freelance journalist from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, came up with the novel idea of seeing how far he could travel in 30 days relying solely on the hospitality and advice of the Twitter community, while using the opportunity to raise money for charity.
Before leaving, Smith said his aim was to get to Campbell Island but has since revised that to "as close as possible". The remote uninhabited subantarctic island, 700km south of New Zealand, is a conservation area that can only be accessed by boat.
Smith, who left the UK on 1 March, travelled to the Netherlands, France, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and the US before arriving - 23 days later - in New Zealand.
Online following
Smith’s Twitter page has amassed an online following of almost 10,000 people, and numbers are climbing on an hourly basis. The journalist is also writing a regular blog about his adventures.
In New Zealand, he’s attracted huge interest from New Zealand media, and many offers of hospitality from Kiwis who’re following his progress.
His first day in the country had been "a blast", Smith said. He had visited Piha beach - "I’ve never seen anything like it ... stunning, absolutely stunning" - and was guest of honour at a ‘tweet up' with around 50 followers.
Smith is expected at another ‘tweet up’ in Wellington tomorrow (25 March) before catching a ferry to the South Island.
Worthy cause
The inspiration for the trip came from combining a childhood ambition to hitchhike with the modern twist of using social networking, Smith said.
The ultimate aim was to raise money for charity, and Smith has already reached his target of £4000 for 'charity: water' which works to give people access to clean water through funding water and sanitation projects.
The journey was now also "about the good in the world".
Rules of engagement
Smith’s journey is governed by a set of self imposed rules - he can only accept travel and accommodation from Twitter members, cannot make arrangements more than three days in advance, and if he only gets one offer, he must take it within 48 hours.
"What it proves is Twitter is more than just a social network - it's a human search engine," he said.
Smith said that beyond his social experiment was the potential for Twitter to change the way people travel.
"If you find yourself in an unknown city, a quick tweet will see followers suggest how you can best spend your time. Offering reviews of hotels and airlines, real-time travel updates, a spare sofa for the night, Twitter is an infrastructure that facilitates a global conversation, a social club, a newswire, a group hug, a support network, a human search engine - all at once. And it's growing exponentially. Spend a while cultivating your Twitter account, and you could develop contacts in every time zone," he said.
More information:
Twitchhiker has New Zealand in sight
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