Driving in Australia

Last weekend we drove a little over 1000km in 2 days, so we pretty much figured out the driving over here. There are many things you should know before getting on the road in Oz!


Our weapon of choice.. another Hyundai! This thing actually impressed us. It handled very well and was actually quite roomy. When you're tearin up the twisties and hitting over 150km/h in the straights, you need comfort! Anyway let's get started.

The Cars

For the most part it feels mirrored, which makes everything seem okay. You're sitting on the right, but driving on the left, so it doesn't feel that out of the norm at first... then you go to flip on the turn signal and get dropped on your head. The signals and the windshield wipers are switched as well, and as much self-control as you think you have, you WILL mess this up. Next there's shifting. I would constantly ram my right hand into the door going for the shifter. But wait! Not everything is mirrored. The pedals are the same, and the gearbox shifts in the same pattern. Pulling toward you to shift up feels so strange, but aside from the initial awkwardness, it feels somewhat right. This became more apparent on highways.

Driving

We're heard from a lot of people that Adelaide has the worst drivers in Australia, so we tried not to hate all Australians for this. As soon as the light turns green, they'll turn right in front of you. Even after you've gotten used to looking the right way before crossing the street to not get run over, you still might because of crazy drivers. There's no law against turning when someone is in the crosswalk, HOWEVER there is a law against turning on a red, which is different than the states.


On winding roads it doesn't feel that different, although you'll tend to stay toward the left side of the lane. Psychologically I think since our driver's seat has been on that side for so long, we naturally go there, but Australia has such narrow lanes that this causes problems. We kept yelling at each other to stay toward the middle. The speed limit only goes up to 110km/h, which is about 70mph, but it feels a whole lot faster because of the tight backroads here.


At first driving felt very foreign. Turn lanes on the right side.. slow lane on the left.. but once we got onto the freeway this actually felt "right." Passing on the right of a vehicle while driving a right hand drive car feels way more natural (to us at least) than passing on the left in the states. It's weird, but everybody should try it someday!


Now you know some more about driving in Australia, so come on over!