Nothing quite like traveling for 30 hours, landing and immediately getting in an unfamiliar car, sitting on the wrong side and navigating your first roundabout within two minutes! Luckily Steve had already thought about his philosophy of driving on the left called 'Follow another car that's not a rental', assuming that driving on the left was native for them. And it worked fairly well since it was only two roads from Cairns to Port Douglas. Never mind that every time you go to put on your turn signal, the windshield wipers go on and once you realize and turn them off, you put on the wrong turn signal anyway.
The good thing about the first drive was there were virtually no turns because as it turns out, the roundabouts, of which there are a considerable number, are easier. You do have to get used to looking right as you enter but there is other traffic as a visual guide.
But my brave first time leftie headed directly into 'downtown' PD (yes it is a small beach town) cruised up Macrossan Street and easily slid into an angle spot, desperately in need of a cold beer, not only due to the stress of an hour of driving but because,,as a rule, an afternoon drink upon arrival always means you are on vacation, especially in the tropics.
So, you might be thinking, well Steve sounds like a pro, must be a natural, easy sailing, did it right off the bat, no worries - BUT there's more to being a 'leftie' than one straight drive from point A to point B. IT'S EVERYTHING HERE like......
Getting in the car...after doing that at least 25 times, we still walk to the wrong side of the car to get in.
Crossing the street.....look left, then right, not sure we'll ever do that without thinking. Luckily here there is little traffic but Sydney will be a challenge.
Going into a bathroom stall....the lock turns the wrong way!
Walking on the sidewalk....gotta stay to the left, on stairways too.
Now back to driving. Turns out the roads up here are small,mostly one lane each way but, those lanes are narrow, our car a nice size Nissan Altima (due to Steve 's financial prowess and risky behavior of booking a "mystery car" from Hertz, saving $20 US and ending up with a nice car) and not much in the way of highway shoulders. Turns out that sitting on the right and driving on the left is a bit disorienting to keeping to the center lane, at least as far as the passenger is concerned, whose job it is to keep the driver alert to drifting off to right hand driving habits. And there are plenty more of those lefty things than turn signals. Turns out it's pretty impossible to look up and to the left to check your rearview mirror, or to turn right to look in the side mirror check for traffic behind you, or to look over your left shoulder to back up.
But eventually, its those turns that get you. You always know you are going to do it, you think you are prepared, you've given clear instructions to your non-navigating passenger (because if you followed our last Euro blog you already know I do not navigate well) only to yell at you if you are dangerously close to screwing up. But let's face it, because you're a guy, you requested no interference, or as a woman would call it...helpful pre-instructions like stay to the left at the island approaching...so of course, of course, it's Day 2, you are getting a tad more relaxed behind the wheel, a bit more confident and look, there's a shopping center, pull in and we'll get a coffee. Quickly the windshield wipers go on instead of the turn signal, disorienting you for a moment, turn 'em off, put the left signal on and.....turn into the driveway, across traffic .......and right into the oncoming right-hand lane with a car coming towards you. It was bound to happen, we got it over with, we felt the panic, and we survived. We're going to try to avoid this again at all costs.
After that little encounter, we managed to navigate another 125 kilometers driving to Mossman Gorge and through Daintree Rainforest on mountain roads and "Give Way" (Aussie for 'Yield' ) one-lane bridges with only a couple of times allowing the car to drift a bit too far to the left edge. And each time I gently whisper to stay to the middle, the threat to make me drive is again heard and I put my hands over my ears and start humming.
WATCH OUT FOR THE CASSOWARY !!!!!!!!!!
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