There’s an interesting conversation going on over at TravellersPoint.com on the merits of hitchhiking vs. car rental vs. busing it in NZ. Here’s a snippet from the discussion about bus travel:
“I did this for most of my time in New Zealand, and I had no complaints. The buses go pretty much everywhere you’d want to go, daily, and between a travelpass for longer distances and a flexipass for shorter distances, was quite cheap. However, since you got such a good rate for the car, the added flexibility of being able to stop by the side of the road whenever you see something particularly beautiful definitely weighs up against the perhaps slightly higher cost.

The one real benefit of a bus is that you wouldn’t have to be driving through snow yourself, if you hit that (which isn’t guaranteed, but is definitely a possibility on the South Island).”

There’s also some talk on car rental for those of you out there interested. The hitchhiking aspect hasn’t been covered, but I can attest that it’s done quite regularly on the South Island and w/o any of the urban legends assosiated with hitching in the U.S. Hit the forum chat for more info!