On Driving

Stay Left, Look Right 

Don't Be Distracted by Kangaroo Crossing Signs

You know it's coming... but that first time you see a kangaroo crossing sign, wow does it hit you.  I'm a long, long way from home (in case the 25 hours of flight time didn't quite sink in).  One would think that actually seeing these signs would be a novelty, but no, they are all over.  In fact, I would estimate that I see more roo crossing signs in a day here than I ever saw white tail deer signs in East Farmington, Wisconsin.  Now that's putting it into perspective. Talking to locals, everyone has a story where either themselves or someone they know has hit a kangaroo with a car.  The damage can be quite severe, much the same as a white tail, but um... it's a marsupial.  We have not (at this point in time) had to swerve for a kangaroo.  Touch wood.  Oh yes, that's the lovely thing everyone says instead of "knock on wood."  We walked around for 6 weeks saying to ourselves... "You can't say that!"  But hold on, I just recently discovered that they say this as it's actually in reference to Christ's cross.  Oh. Maybe we mixed that up somehow.  Tidbits to ponder.

Maxi Taxi's

I want to back up for one minute as there's a bit of a story to tell.  We got off our 15 hour flight from L.A. to Brisbane and needed to figure out a way to get all of our luggage to the hotel (see Our Life in 11 Totes post).  As they didn't have an Uber big enough,  we needed to rent something bigger.  We were told that we would need to hire a Maxi Taxi. What??  Yep, that's what they call a van.  Maybe I spent too many years working in the OB/GYN world, but I thought this was hilarious.  We were excited to be able to make one trip to the hotel, so I was to ride with the Maxi Taxi driver and Mike was going to drive the rental car. I was NOT in any state of mind to start driving on the left as of yet.  I would need a full night's sleep and plenty of coffee on board.  Mistakenly, I crossed over and hopped right in the driver's seat.  That evoked gales of laughter from our driver, I mean head between the legs laughter.  He managed to choke out, "What, you want to drive?"  Red faced, I promptly bailed to the left side of the vehicle where passengers are supposed to sit.   I could at least blame my jet lag on this one.  I don't think he had seen anything like our debacle before, as he started taking pictures on his personal mobile of all of our stuff piled up in the back.  O.k.  Good start. 


Fast forward a month and we got to rent (hire) our own Maxi Taxi.  The actual renting of the Maxi Taxi involved multiple conversations with managers around Mike's U.S. drivers license vs an International drivers license vs an Aussie driver's license and whether the company was insured to cover someone driving from the far off country of the United States.  We eventually worked it out as we  had furniture to move.  The fun could then begin as we got to pretend we were chasing a DeLorean. 

Driving in Perth

Soon enough I was driving.  At first it sounded much like this, "Kids, quiet.  Mom's driving. No talking, listening to the radio, or playing games. Or breathing."  It was true, I instantly felt 50 years older, hands at 10 and 2, white knuckles and all.  If you don't believe me, give it a try.  It's very alarming the first time you pull up to an intersection and automatically look left, and then remember to look right and a car comes flying by that you didn't expect.  Yes, a little nerve racking at first but after a week it became much more comfortable.  After a couple months, it has now become automatic again with radio on, kids bantering, me drinking coffee and wondering if the the 3 lane roundabout ahead is going to be congested again. 

Besides driving on the left, another big difference is that all signs are in kilometers per hour.  The fastest that I have seen on the freeway is 100 km/hr, which is not fast.  This equals 62 mph.  Another thing is that everyone goes the speed limit.  There really is no speeding of any sort in Australia.  Why you wonder?

There are speed cameras everywhere. Case in point, on Mike's first trip over, he was driving the usual Midwest speed of 7 over, no big deal, except that it was.  Approximately 5 weeks later at home in MN, Mike was issued a speeding ticket via snail mail where his license was captured by camera and they found him all the way back in the U.S.  Damn.  Fast forward to present day when Mike was getting his Australian drivers license and they commented on how he was already down 2 points.  Bugger!  Although I got a good chuckle, I've been determined not to get a ticket.  So I just drive like I've got Miss Daisy in the back. 

Emergency Vehicles and Police

One day while we were out looking at houses, we passed through a residential neighborhood at approximately 4:00 pm on a Tuesday.  Never mind that we hadn't seen any police to speak of in the last 3 weeks, but there sat a police officer on the quietest street I'd ever seen.  Nobody was around, just a police officer sitting in the middle of the road. He flags Mike to pull over and we quickly realize that this is a breathalyzer stop.  Mike proceeds to say to the officer, "Oh good!  It's my first breathalyzer in Australia!"  I'm not sure the officer thought that this was funny.  He gave Mike the test with the car running and Mike still seated in the driver's seat with the window down. He just reached in and stuck a straw in Mike's mouth.  Mike blew, officer read it as normal and wished us a good day, mate.  The whole stop took less than 60 seconds, there was no wasting time with asking for license or registration.  

They don't need probable cause here, they can, and do, just set up random testing areas.  The legal limit here is 0.05% (compared to 0.08% in MN).  Even weeks later this still seemed a bit off to me.  After asking around we found out that these officers set up stops in quiet neighborhoods during the afternoons, to catch Mum's out having a couple cocktails during lunch with friends while the kiddo's are in school.  Ahh...  it was coming together. 

We have also noticed that people don't readily pull over for emergency vehicles quite as quickly as they do in the States.  Everything is a tad slower here, even this apparently.  I've done a couple double takes as ambulances are green and white. Surprisingly, they sound the same as in the States and not the siren's that they use in France. Come on, you know... the ones that go "beedo, beedo." 

School buses are bright orange.  Notice the sign of the child on the back.  It looks like the child is running for his life from the school bus that's coming to pick him up.  It's probably because they make you pay to ride the bus.  Yes, that's correct, it's $0.70 a ride.  You either pay with cash or with a card that's been set up already.  No worries, our kids quickly decided they would either scooter or bike to school.  But really, who needs buses when it's always sunny and warm out?!?! 

Roundabouts 

Roundabouts have been thrown in everywhere, from the most quiet of streets that get 5 cars a day at most to the jam packed 3 lane roundabouts that I try and avoid whenever possible. 

My mother would just weep at how many times a day we swing through them. She's a self proclaimed roundabout basher.  But... they are actually quite fun to navigate once you get used to them.  They serve a purpose with moderate traffic, but again not a fan in the heaviest rush hour type traffic.  When drivers know how to use them and don't hesitate, they do seem to work like clockwork.  Note another kangaroo sign in the background.  I can happily report at the time of writing this, I saw a wild mob of roo's today in a field grazing on grass.  Thankfully none decided to hop out at me.  With roundabouts at every intersection, there is hardly a stop sign to be seen.  I can also note that there are quite a few uncontrolled intersections, especially on surface streets.  I can't stop flinching when I see a car out of my periphery that is coming up to me at a pretty good clip. The Aussie's love to speed to an intersection and then slam on their brakes.  Guess why?  They have never had to deal with black ice or snow and it shows.

Everything Else 

In the U.S. pedestrians have the right of way, I've grown up that way and it's never crossed my mind that it could be any other way.  Here it appears that pedestrians do not have the right as cars do not slow down and will let people with kids hang out in the median until they see a break in action.  I always stop and wave people through.  I do it now just to get the reaction... people are quite jovial to be let across.  If you see the giant pair of legs on a sign, remember to let the poor pedestrian's through, they've been waiting long enough.

This was taken outside of Caversham Park, (future blog).  I'm still debating on if this is a joke or not.  We've covered that kangaroo's are everywhere, but a bobtail lizard crossing sign?  In all seriousness, we actually saw a bobtail lizard at the beach.  Of course we thought it was poisonous but it's one of the few things that aren't.  There are water buffalo in Northern Australia, but not in this area.  Check that off the list of things to worry about.  We'll just go ahead and put this sign into the Australians are hilarious bucket.

While we were visiting the botanical gardens we see this sign in the parking lot.  Set down what?  We got a good chuckle over this sign as well.  I had to look this one up as I really didn't know what this meant.  It is to let bus passengers know that the bus will only be letting people off the bus and not picking up more.  So don't bother waiting for that bus right here.

It's all come down to a bit of patience, and we've picked up on things just fine.  Thank goodness we don't have to retake our drivers license test.  The driving would be fine but having to relearn everything in meters and kilometers for the written test?  No thanks.

From what I've been reading, the best signs are out in the middle of the outback.  Hopefully we'll get to do some traveling and I'll be on the lookout for this type of cheeky sign. This image I found online and I'd be thrilled to come across it while driving.