RadioRoryI didn’t go 50 feet before I hit something with my rental car in Australia.
I hadn’t done any driving in more than three months and now I’m on the “wrong” side of the car and on the “wrong” side of the road. I was having flashbacks to my days of driving a strudel van (long story) when I brushed up against a plastic garbage bin on the curb. I knocked it over, but it was empty and did no damage to the van. And it’s not like you could tell, my minivan would never be mistaken for a new car.
Driving on the other side of the road is just something you have to get used to. It’s easy on highways or anytime you’re just following traffic. The trouble comes on smaller streets, roundabouts, pulling out of a parking lot, and using drive-thru windows. That part is very weird. Parallel parking is no breeze either.
My most valuable piece of advice is this: Never pass a gas station without filling up. The giant Racetrack, Wawa, or Flying J plazas we’re used to seeing every couple of miles just don’t exist in Australia. I learned this lesson the hard way when I went through a half a tank of gas before I found the next station. I was on fumes when I finally reached a station and promised never to make that mistake again.
The road kill is also more, shall we say, “exotic.” Small kangaroos can often be found dead on the side of the road. I also came across an emu that was splattered across a road used by big logging trucks. It wasn’t pretty. If you plan to drive through the Outback, locals will tell you not to go at night because you could be killed by some of the bigger animals that are crossing the road. There’s nothing in Australia that isn’t trying to kill you.
The last bit of driving advice relates to the GPS. You must get one and not rely on your phone. Cell service can be spotty, even on popular routes like the Great Ocean Road, but the GPS is much more reliable. Bring one from home (with uploaded maps, of course), buy a new one there, or suck it up and pay the rental company’s outrageous fees, but don’t venture out of an Australian city without it. And ignore the ETA feature. Posted speed limits in Australia don’t change, despite tight curves on twisty coastal roadways. The posted limit may be 80 kph, but you’ll be lucky to make half that in some spots. The signs will “suggest” a lower speed, but the GPS doesn’t take that into account. What the GPS says will be a four-hour drive may take you six hours to complete.
And then there are the views. You can’t help but stop for selfies all along the way, adding even more time to your trip.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.