Stay Left

VIC.JPG
Originally uploaded by BLP.

We picked up a Ford Focus from Budget rental on Saturday morning as we began our weekend tour around Victoria. As we walked to Budget, we got about 1 block from our apartment before we happened upon an accident scene involving three cars - two of which had been parked. Some poor young man on his way to work (by the looks of things) had managed to crash into two cars on the street, effectively destroying all three vehicles. Given that I was on my way to pick up a car and spend the weekend driving on the wrong side of the road, I wasn't sure how to take this. On one hand, this scene provided encouragement that even Aussie's have trouble behind the wheel from time to time. On the other hand, this guy had made driving look far more difficult (and dangerous) than I'd ever contemplated.

As it turned out, I had little trouble navigating the roads of Australia - I only pissed off other drivers once and returned the vehicle without damage. But, driving through the Australian countryside at 100km/hr on a tiny two lane road (or "highway" if you believe the maps) in pitch dark with kangaroos, drink drivers, and a broad range of vehicles (some being driven at around 10 km/hr) throwing themselves in your path is not for the faint of heart.