Okay, here it is, what everyone has been waiting for.... okay, not really, but this is fun anyway! Here are the pics of our crappy ass rental car. It's called a Ford Falcon XR6. I have seen a ton of these on the road and they come in all sorts... hatchback, sport, big fat ass like ours, and even pickup/el camino style! So anyway, here's the deal with cars and driving here:
1. Everything is all wrong... on the wrong side, wrong system, bassackwards!
2. Always make sure your on the correct side of the road... LEFT!
3. Parking on the wrong side of the road
4. Parallel Parking on the wrong side of the road
5. Avoid narrow roads!
***6. Wipers are on the left side of the steering wheel
***7. Blinkers are on the right side of the steering wheel
8. Everything is listed in Kilometers
9. liquids are Liters
10. Trunk = Boot... no one knows what a trunk is
11. Hood = Bonnet
12. Gas = Petrol
13. Did I mention that everything is on the wrong side!!!
14. oh, but the only thing on the correct side are the pedals! Gas on the right, brake on the left! whew, that was a close one!
Both Del and I have had our mishaps with parking on the wrong side of the road... day one, we both managed to scrape the front tire off of the curb and with 20 minutes of each other too! Needless to say, we were both a little nervous to drive after that.
Buying petrol here is a little tricky. You think it looks cheap... oh look! 113.4¢ / litre (yes, -re not -er!)... don't let that shit fool you! 113.4 cents really equals $1.13 (the 4 is like our little 9 for gas). Oh and did I mention that there are roughly 3.8 gallons per litre!?!? That makes gas here about $4.31 per gallon!!! And that's a cheaper station, we've seen up to 123.4 (that's almost $4.70/gal)!
***A typical American thing to do is to turn on your wipers when you are about to make a turn... how funny is that... instead of your blinker, everyone knows you're a seppo because you just wiped your windscreen instead of signaling your turn! A fun way to cover it up is to actually squirt the juice on it and let it fly! Then signal <.< (that's my "you didn't see that" face). In a panic, Del and I still do that... it sucks because usually, you just bollixed something up and you try to correct it by signalling (spelled the aussie way with 2 L's) the right way and then you just gave the tell... you're an american! DAMN IT ALL!
As for driving, after about 1 week, I've finally got it! I don't have to call out my turns before I make them anymore! I still haven't quite figured out a hook turn yet, nor am I perfect on a roundabout (I screw them up regularly or completely miss my turns), but I'm learning... too bad we return this hog of a car on sunday! But up until a few days ago, every time I turned you either heard me call out "Left-Left" or "Right-Left." This way, I didn't turn into oncoming traffic!!! Oh, and I can finally parallel park on the left side of the road and am getting better at pulling in between the lines in a parking lot hahaha.
What speed to drive at... everything is in KM/Hr. And speed limit signs don't say "speed limit" on them... they are a discrete white sign with a black number and a red circle... WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN! It took us a day to figure it out and then reading a book to confirm it.
Trams and Peds have right of way! Passing is called "Overtaking" and Yield = Give Way. There are about 50 different words for different types of streets here, many you'd know and some a little more obscure... here are a few: road, street, place, lane, parade, crescent, court, grove, avenue, close, drive, freeways, tollways, highways, lane, etc. There are many more, but I can't remember them all haha.
Well, I think I've said plenty about driving at this point, we'll have more fun with this sort of thing later... maybe public transportation or something else. Also, I'll share some stuff about local things too. But since we will be without internet after tomorrow, that may have to wait! If I can work on things offline and then have Del load them up, maybe that will work too.
Well, I guess I'll talk to you all later, I do hope to hear from some of you eventually to see how you are all doing. Please feel free to cc Del on any of your emails, I know he'd love to hear from everyone as well.
***P.S. Subscribe to our blog and then you can delete all those damn emails!!!!
Love you all!
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