One from the road

Observation: Driving on the left is really, REALLY, really hard.

I drove my first right-hand-drive car this evening. It's a little 2007 Toyota Corolla, pretty indistinguishable from most Toyotas, except the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

Nothing felt right about driving that car. Getting in on what for the last 38 years of my life has been the passenger side was strange enough. Shifting with the left hand was extremely difficult -- thank God I didn't get the manual-transmission model. The radio's volume knob is on the right. The windshield wiper switch is where the turn signal switch should be. The turn signal switch is up for left and down for right. I only signaled the wrong direction twice, but I do now have the cleanest windshield in all Australia.

I was driving north toward downtown Sydney from the airport hotel. I just got behind somebody and followed them. I was ready to think, "This isn't so bad." Then I realized I had been proceeding straight down the same road for several kilometers. At some point, I would have to turn.

Turning is really hard, all of a sudden. Turning left is not so bad -- it's like going from one one-way street to another, a maneuver I do occasionally back home. You can turn left on red after stopping, in this land of Great Opposites. Turning right is a whole different adventure. Further complicating matters is that on four-lane roads, the lines dividing my side from their side are not yellow. They're white, just like the lines dividing the left northbound and right northbound lanes. I wonder if anybody has suggested to the Australian government that center lines SHOULD BE FREAKING YELLOW.

I did manage to avoid head-on disaster long enough to drive across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which provides a great view of the Harbour area. I did some preliminary investigation of the city and determined that it is indeed as wonderful as it seems.

I'll be headed west tomorrow, toward the Blue Mountains which form the western edge of the Sydney metropolitan area. I wonder if I can get there without turning.