Driving on the Left
Holy Cow! I actually rented a car (they call it hiring here) and gave it the old college try at driving in Australia. Of course, they drive on the left hand side of the road, and their steering wheel is on the right. I was glad I got an automatic transmission, because while I can drive a stick, I am not 100% sure I'd be able to actually shift left handed. The woman at the Hertz counter needed an exterminator to get someone to kill the bug up her ass. She was not at all willing to be light with us as I made changes on the fly to our rental agreement. First, there are automatic toll roads all over Australia. That means no toll booths, and you are then on the hook to figure out how to pay for them. I asked if there was a way I could add the daily passes to my contract. She grimaced, and said yes, there was, but it would be an additional $8.25 AUS each day. BFD!! I of course added it, though I am sure the daily pass from some official outlet was less than half of it. WHATEVER!!! The second problem was petrol. After our debacle in France (I paid like $167 to have not filled the car up prior to returning it to Hertz) I didn't want to have to screw around with that here. Besides, I haven't seen a single petrol station in the Central Business District. She of course grimaced about that, and then added that charge as well. Overall, I found that cheap, since it was only $.88 per liter, which is more than 9 cents AUS less than the petrol stations I have seen.
Once we had the car all arranged, it was time to hit the road. Colleen, Josh, Leah and I wanted to head out for the Great Ocean Road. We really only had a vague idea of how to get there, but no guts, no glory. After getting onto the main highway, it was just a matter of following the signs. We got onto the road, and it didn't disappoint. It was really 300KM of nothing but photo opportunities. Once we get the pictures updated, we will make sure they get posted on the site. They are breathtaking.
The Great Ocean Road really can't be described in words. I thought long and hard about that before putting this blog together. You'll just have to wait for the pictures, unless Colleen has something she'd like to add in her section.
Amazingly, we managed to avoid all the weather. We left Melbourne in thunderstorms, and spent the whole day under mostly cloudy skies. It was windy, and sea spray covered us and the car in salt. When we got back to town, it was in the middle of the deluge. It turned out the storm dumped 120mm (almost 5 inches) of rain. It was a Melbourne record no matter what season. Flooding everywhere, tram lines down, and traffic the next morning was so bad, there were people that took more than 2 hours to get to work when it would normally take less than a half hour. Serendipity, that's all I can say. We didn't end up having any problems, which could have been rampant with that kind of weather.
It's Colleen! What can I say about the Great Ocean Road? The most beautiful coastline I have ever seen. We are so moving here!!! I really can see us living here. We've had some great times on the open road and have seen more than I could've hoped in my lifetime(hee hee)!! bye.
So, I can't really discuss my drive without a brief interlude on the premise of the hook turn. A phenomenon unique to Melbourne (at least where I have driven) the hook turn is a fairly civilized method of allowing the right hand turn on busy intersections. Remember, driving on the left hand side of the road means a right turn is the turn across traffic. Anyway, some intersections in the Central Business District (CBD) require the hook right. To make this turn, you have to get into the far left lane, signal you'll be turning right, and then pull slightly off the side of the road. This alows forward traffic to continue. Then, as the light is turning red, those of us in the hook turn line make our turn quickly before the light changes allowing the traffic you are blocking to be annoyed. :-) It is a very odd move. Some have said it is very civilized, but I think it is just a premise to create more accidents.
Well, we're going to sign off for this one. Thanks for dropping by. :-)
Once we had the car all arranged, it was time to hit the road. Colleen, Josh, Leah and I wanted to head out for the Great Ocean Road. We really only had a vague idea of how to get there, but no guts, no glory. After getting onto the main highway, it was just a matter of following the signs. We got onto the road, and it didn't disappoint. It was really 300KM of nothing but photo opportunities. Once we get the pictures updated, we will make sure they get posted on the site. They are breathtaking.
The Great Ocean Road really can't be described in words. I thought long and hard about that before putting this blog together. You'll just have to wait for the pictures, unless Colleen has something she'd like to add in her section.
Amazingly, we managed to avoid all the weather. We left Melbourne in thunderstorms, and spent the whole day under mostly cloudy skies. It was windy, and sea spray covered us and the car in salt. When we got back to town, it was in the middle of the deluge. It turned out the storm dumped 120mm (almost 5 inches) of rain. It was a Melbourne record no matter what season. Flooding everywhere, tram lines down, and traffic the next morning was so bad, there were people that took more than 2 hours to get to work when it would normally take less than a half hour. Serendipity, that's all I can say. We didn't end up having any problems, which could have been rampant with that kind of weather.
It's Colleen! What can I say about the Great Ocean Road? The most beautiful coastline I have ever seen. We are so moving here!!! I really can see us living here. We've had some great times on the open road and have seen more than I could've hoped in my lifetime(hee hee)!! bye.
So, I can't really discuss my drive without a brief interlude on the premise of the hook turn. A phenomenon unique to Melbourne (at least where I have driven) the hook turn is a fairly civilized method of allowing the right hand turn on busy intersections. Remember, driving on the left hand side of the road means a right turn is the turn across traffic. Anyway, some intersections in the Central Business District (CBD) require the hook right. To make this turn, you have to get into the far left lane, signal you'll be turning right, and then pull slightly off the side of the road. This alows forward traffic to continue. Then, as the light is turning red, those of us in the hook turn line make our turn quickly before the light changes allowing the traffic you are blocking to be annoyed. :-) It is a very odd move. Some have said it is very civilized, but I think it is just a premise to create more accidents.
Well, we're going to sign off for this one. Thanks for dropping by. :-)
posted by Derek Botti at
3:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home