Agencies declare hitchhiking safe

New Zealand is a safe country to hitchhike in, say Tourism New Zealand and the Automobile Association, but people need to exercise care.

The body of a woman hitchhiker, believed to be in her mid-20s, was found by a jogger on Tuesday near Lucy's Gully, southwest of New Plymouth. The German woman had been stabbed.

AA director of public affairs George Fairbairn said the organisation had issued a guide for hitch-hikers about three years ago.

"Generally it [hitchhiking] is pretty good," Mr Fairbairn said.

The main advice was not to go on your own, particularly if you are female. "Girls hitchhiking alone gives rise to situations they may not be able to cope with," he said.

Tourism NZ spokesman Cas Carter said tourists generally regarded New Zealand as safe by international standards.

But "there is still potential for something to go wrong".

She said Tourism NZ advised travellers on basic safety, such as not to go walking alone, staying in well-lit areas at night, but not specifically on hitchhiking.

The murder was "a terrible tragedy" said Ms Carter. "Thankfully incidents like this are still fairly rare."

HITCHHIKERS KILLED IN NZ

Jennifer Hargreaves

The 17-year-old was strangled beside the road in Patumahoe, South Auckland, in December 2001 soon after setting out from Papakura to a family reunion in Invercargill.

Her killer, one-armed Shane Hoko, who was on parole for his part in a home invasion at the time, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lisa Blakie

The 20-year-old missed her bus from Christchurch to Greymouth and decided to hitchhike last February. Timothy David Taylor picked her up on the outskirts of Christchurch, stabbed her eight times and strangled her to death.

Her body was pulled from the Porter River four days later, weighted down with a 104kg boulder. Taylor was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mona Blades

The 18-year-old was hitchhiking from Hamilton to Hastings on May 31,1975, when she got into an orange Datsun 120Y stationwagon on the Napier-Taupo road and disappeared without trace.

One of three suspects investigated at the time has since died and nobody has been charged with her murder.

Craig Merryweather

The 20-year-old business student from Massey University was hitching to Queenstown in August 1987. He was picked up at Picton by three men in a stolen car and later shot in Lindis Pass.

His body was found buried in a shallow grave there two years later and his killers imprisoned.

Jennifer Beard

The 25-year-old from Wales was visiting the South Island to meet her fiance and go tramping. Her body was found under the Haast River bridge on January 19, 1970, and her murder remains unsolved. A prime suspect died in 2003.