Green

On Oxford Street early this morning a young Dutch tourist boarded the cab. He was a good looking kid, well-tanned with gelled hair and wearing smart casual clobber.

“So what did you do tonight,” I asked, “anything interesting?” First he laughed then reported a sobering encounter earlier in the evening.

Whilst waiting on Oxford Street for a bus to Bondi a car stopped and the driver requested directions to Bondi. Locals and visitors alike know that Oxford Street eventually leads to Bondi, some eight kilometres to the east.

My passenger explained this to the driver but he pleaded ignorance and offered the kid a lift home if he’d direct him to Bondi. So the kid accepted..!?

Sure enough, it wasn't long before they turned off Oxford Street and headed in the opposite direction. My passenger panicked and challenged the driver who explained that they were going back to his place to smoke some weed.

When the kid objected, stating he wasn’t gay and demanding to get out, the driver responded, “But why did you get in..?” Obviously he was as surprised as the kid and stopped the car.

I related his adventure to my next passengers, two Irish female backpackers. They also had never heard of Ivan Milat or Wolf Creek.

Comments

[Kezza]

It's kind of funny when two peoples expectations don't align.

One expects a lift home, the other expects... well God only knows. It seems to happen a lot. I guess you can't simply impy anything anymore, you just need to come out and say it.

As for getting in a car with a complete stranger - would anyone even take the risk anymore? I don't think I would, then again when I covered big miles travelling from SA to Victoria I'd often stop for a hitch hiker, mainly because I was bored and going stir crazy at the wheel by myself. I guess I never thought of what could happen if it all went wrong. Maybe I was just lucky.

[Dataceptionist]

Funny post from Reasons you will hate me on the topic of hitching
http://www.reasonsyouwillhateme.com/thumbing-through-to-uncoolsville

[Rainer.the.cabbie]

I hitched all around the country side when I was a young man and still have fantastic memories of all the great people I met. Even when I had the money I still preferred to hitch than catch a Bus/Train.
As to your passengers experience, foolish to accept a lift on Oxford street being a young guy. As to the driver of the car, stupid old Queen, should have continued to Darlinghurst Rd., turn left and get his money ready.

[NH]

C'mon mate - If mass media has taught us anything about serial killers, it's that it is only unsafe to get in a stranger's car if it's an F100...

[Goldstein]

In January, one of my punters (has schizophrenia) walked down to the park at around 3.00am because "it was hot" and she couldn't sleep..

She's 30, slim, so pretty -looks like a young Natalie Wood. A slghtly mad Natalie Wood..

Walking back she was offered a lift by a guy in an EA Falcon, who suggested they drive to the beach..

Arriving at the beach -still sitting in the car -he grabs her, gropes, they struggle, he biffs her, she breaks free, runs onto the sand, in the pitch black night..

The guy is using the car headlights to try and locate her, sweeping them across the sand, spots her, she ends up swimming out into the surf to avoid him..

Eventually he gives up and roars off, she comes out of the water, stands up on the road and waves down a passing cop car who refuse to let her in the car because she's wet.

A passing couple stop for her, listen to her story and call Police Attendance for help -this time these coppers take a statement -she doesn't know his rego, and his description of white/30's/'av build/5'10"/short hair is not exactly unique, so they settle her and drive her home..

This sort of predatory shit happens all the time -remember the Truro Murders in Adelaide? Seven girls murdered over the summer '76 -'77. Those girls were all offered lifts, then raped and murdered..

Cockroaches are not the only grubby creatures rumbling about out there at night.

[MANLY CABBIE]

When i was a young bloke i had blond hair surfie looks and the same thing as happened to your young dutch guy happened to me a couple of times the difference is i never got in the cars,fucking coakroach's

[MANLY CABBIE]

further to above maybe its the same guys they always asked for directions to bondi.

[adrian]

NH, from memory Milat used a Nissan Pajero with a steel hand-brace on passengers side to which he'd hand-cuff victims.

[kae]

When we were 14 my best friend and I used to go out to Menangle Park and later that year to Narellan to visit her horse. We would catch the train to Campbelltown and the Guard would let us out at the illegal Menangle Park stop. Sometimes we would not be able to go to Menangle Park, we'd have to get out at Campbelltown.
We'd hitch to the horse (Menangle Park or Narellan), usually local blokes would pick us up, and my friend knew them. (I don't think we ever got a lift from anyone we didn't know.)

This was in 1971-1972.

When was Milat cruising that way???

[Raf]

actually ivan milats brother lived/lives in Eaglevale which is in the campbelltown region