Driving Upside-Down
You can tell the Canadians when you're driving. We're the ones with the windsheild wipers going full-blast on a perfectly sunny day. Because we're driving in a backwards car, the wiper switch and signal light levers are reversed, so every time you want to signal, you accidentally hit the wipers. Surely the Aussies have noticed this by now, and keep an eye out for us beginner drivers...
Left turns into left is our new mantra. (left turns you turn into the left lane). and right turns into left...? :-) Even being a passenger in this country seriously messes you up. It's like being on an amusement park ride in the dark, where you can't predict which wway the ride will lurch next. You're sitting on the "drivers" side, and all is backwards!
It's a surreal feeling, becuase all of your instincts and automatic reactions are now wrong when you are driving on the left. I didn't even realize that I had some of these instincts or habits until you drive on the wrong side of the road. You have a general expectation & prediction of what traffic will do which allows you to make split second decisions and now they're all backwards. Don't worry, we're doing fine - we're not the basket cases I make us sound like. By the second day we were fine, used to it, and Kent was calm and competent on the first day of upside-down driving. I liked it, cuz I was allowed to backseat drive for ONE whole DAY!
Right turns sometimes still wig me out though, but he's fine. The freaky thing for me is still seeing cars driving towards you with no one in the "drivers" seat! :-) So off we go, heading down the coast towards Melbourne for a week - wipers flapping.
Left turns into left is our new mantra. (left turns you turn into the left lane). and right turns into left...? :-) Even being a passenger in this country seriously messes you up. It's like being on an amusement park ride in the dark, where you can't predict which wway the ride will lurch next. You're sitting on the "drivers" side, and all is backwards!
It's a surreal feeling, becuase all of your instincts and automatic reactions are now wrong when you are driving on the left. I didn't even realize that I had some of these instincts or habits until you drive on the wrong side of the road. You have a general expectation & prediction of what traffic will do which allows you to make split second decisions and now they're all backwards. Don't worry, we're doing fine - we're not the basket cases I make us sound like. By the second day we were fine, used to it, and Kent was calm and competent on the first day of upside-down driving. I liked it, cuz I was allowed to backseat drive for ONE whole DAY!
Right turns sometimes still wig me out though, but he's fine. The freaky thing for me is still seeing cars driving towards you with no one in the "drivers" seat! :-) So off we go, heading down the coast towards Melbourne for a week - wipers flapping.
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