I got the courage up and rented a car on Sunday and I can finally say I have mastered the roads and the whole driving on the left thing.I have to preface that the Australians are great people, friendly, outgoing, generous. All that disappears when they get behind the wheel. They are the most aggressive and crazy drivers I have seen outside of Italy. Road Rage seems to be a problem here to I tread lightly. On the Gold Coast Saturday my buddy Kirk got flipped off twice just trying to change lanes. Incredible. Australians are super hard core at everything they do. My guess is that when you live in a country with this many extremes you take everything else at the same level. Full speed all the way.
My experience was a good one however. I chose Sunday which is a good day to drive here, everyone parties til' dawn (literally) on Saturday night so Sundays tend to be quiet. After the first twenty minutes of terror and constantly chanting "stay to the left, stay to the
left" I got that hang of it and suddenly it just makes sense. I drove a stick shift which i think helped remind me not to drift to the right. The only problem I really had was the turn signal. Almost every lane change or turn I would hit the lever and the windshield wipers would go on. The signal is on the opposite side of the car. It was always worth a laugh. Other problems included: always getting in on the wrong side of the car, round abouts to the left, kilometers are 2.2 miles or is it the reverse?...Off to Caloundra and Maroochydoore.
1 comment:
You will probably wake in a sweat screaming "stay to the left"...
I was at the mall the other day at "spencers" and they had this great invention (which sans kidlets I would definately own one)... this contraption was a fist which you suction cup to your rear window. attached is a plastic tube with a bulb at the end which when someone makes a driving faux paux you simply squeeze the bulb and viola! a statement is easily made.
I may send you one for Christmas.
love your loving and wise sister.
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