Driving Miss Daisy

We had our first Aussie driving experience yesterday! We rented a car for a couple of reasons: We were invited by one of Jason's co-workers to have lunch with him and and his family and we needed to buy a cot and mattress for Abby. Both of which were out in the northern suburbs of Sydney.

Important thing to know: The steering wheel is on the right hand side of the car and you drive on the left hand side of the road. Totally and completely backwards!
As any good organized person would do, we mapped out our route from here to lunch and then to Babies R Us (they have them here!) and then home again. But of course, Google Maps let us down yet again, and the names that they had for almost all of the highways we had to take were not listed on the signs while we were driving. We had printed out 8 pages of directions and maps so as navigator (sitting on the left!) we figured it out and didn't get lost. Nor, did we get in an accident...way to go Jason! It appears as though the hardest part is turning and remembering to "stay to the left!" but with a little reminder from the navigator we got back in the correct lane and not heading towards on-coming traffic.

Tolls here are a bit different in that you have to register your car online within 48 hours of going through the toll and I guess it takes a picture of your license plate and then charges your credit card. I still have no idea how much we paid in tolls but since we drove over the Sydney Harbour Bridge I'm sure it's not cheap.

There were signs everywhere on the highway (and commercials on tv) that said to beware there are cameras that can catch you speeding, anytime, anyplace. It seemed a bit creepy, like someone was watching you at all times. Needless to say, we didn't speed!

A couple last random thoughts: Here, the turn signal is on the right and the wind shield wipers on the left. That means we were cleaning the window every time we turned instead of using the turn signal. All the controls on the dashboard you control with your left hand when driving. Finally, something made for all you lefties out there.

I think we will stick with public transportation and walking as much as possible. Walking is hard enough trying to remember to look right than left when crossing the street :)