Sunday observations

A bunch of scribbles in my notebook, mostly car-related:

-- I switched hotels today, from the airport hotel to the apartment in which I'll spend the next two weeks. It's very nice, close to the bus line and well-served by taxis. I was more than happy to give back the wrong-side Toyota.

The view from my 10th floor balcony. It ain't much, but for the next two weeks, it's home.

-- Speaking of cars, and Toyotas: The apartment is next to the Toyota/Lexus dealer. Because I had a two-hour wait before I could check in, I wandered in to the showroom. I determined this: Cars in Australia are very, very expensive. That little Toyota I was driving -- a $14,000 car in the U.S. -- will set you back about $22,000 in Australia. A Lexus IS250, which is an "entry-level" luxury car similar to mine -- low $30s in the U.S. -- has a much steeper entry fee in Sydney, just shy of $50,000.

-- This might explain why Australians keep their cars for a long time. My Sunday morning walk took me past many mid-'80s Holdens and Peugeots and Fords. But imagine my surprise when I saw that somebody was still driving around in ... a 1978 Mazda GLC. My first car.

The last time you saw one of these, I was driving it.

I'm pretty sure I haven't seen one since I got rid of mine in 1986; they weren't exactly built to last. This one was badged as a "323" (which is what they came to call that model in the U.S., starting in the early '80s) and it was orange, not faded-out silver, but it was in every way identical to the junkbox I proudly drove 20 years ago.

-- The Holden is Australia's "domestic" car. Holden is owned by General Motors, and did recently export its first car to the U.S.: the Pontiac GTO of a few years ago was a rebadged Holden Monaro. The Australian Fords are not exported, and they still bear the names of Fords from 30-40 years ago: Falcon, Fairlane, Fairmont, Futura.

-- The Mustang is not sold here, however. Sports cars are not very common, likely because Australia very strictly enforces speed limits. A ticket that would cost you $60 in the U.S. might very well cost you your license in New South Wales. And you might be caught by a radar-actuated camera, meaning "I was going with the flow of traffic" won't matter a whit.

-- Pretty much every Japanese and Korean manufacturer has a strong presence on Australian roads. The Toyota Camry is as common a sight here as it is on any U.S. road. I did see a Chrysler 300, but the only Chrysler product that is common in Sydney is the Jeep Grand Cherokee. There are way fewer SUVs here, and the ones you see here look as if they're equipped to actually go, you know, off-road.

-- There's no F-150 or the Holden equivalent of a Chevy Silverado. People who need to haul drive "utes," which are simply truck versions of cars -- like El Caminos.

-- Gas is about $4.50 a gallon, slightly less than in Denmark, and about the same as in Canada.