Drove Me Nuts Down Under

I am used to driving in foreign countries.  It started back in 1992 when we took a 2 ½ year old Patrick to Italy.  Most recently was the 2,500 miles we drove all over western Europe after picking up Julie’s (then) new Mercedes at the factory in Stuttgart.  And a lot in between, be it Europe, Mexico, or Canada.  But in all of that “foreign driving”, I had NEVER needed to drive on the left side of the rode (known to all of my US friends as “the wrong side”).

That changed on our trip to Melbourne in November.  I had business there and Julie and Christopher came down mid-week to explore Melbourne, then we needed to pick up a car Friday afternoon and head to Lorne, the beginning of our 3 days on The Great Ocean Road.  But this blog is all about driving on the wrong side of the road.  I will let Julie post the pretty pictures.

I told Julie several days before that she would have to be my co-driver and keep her eyes at all times to make sure I didn’t revert to my 42 years of driving experience.  This was compounded after getting to Melbourne and learning in the CBD they have a unique maneuver called a “hook turn”.  In a nut shell you make a right from the left lane—confused?  This might help.

Anyway, one of my first goals in leaving Melbourne on a Friday afternoon in all the traffic was to never, ever, be in the position that I needed to do that.  Google Maps did its job.

When we showed up at the Hertz office they had upgraded this to a “Kluger” SUV which I heard as “Luger” and assumed it by the gun manufacturer.  But it was a mid-sized SUV by Toyota.  I also made sure I got full collision damage waiver for the peace of mind.

 We started out slowly and carefully talking EVERYTHING through before we did it.  And we succeeded.  Only a few feints to the right now and then.  And I only got in the left side of the car once and had that momentary “Where the hell did my steering wheel go?” thought.  And a couple times we went to the wrong doors, but all in all did pretty well.

(I did like the Australian road signs encouraging “Power Naps” if you get a case of the “drowsy’s”.)

Julie and I have had an agreement since our first time driving in Europe 25 years ago: “Never complain to the other person about a driving mistake because we are BOTH going to make them”.  And that approach continues to work for us.