I have been very pleased and not entirely surprised by the immense charm of Australia and most of its inhabitants.
Speed limits are the same as ours, but fussier in town owing to kms which mean lots more different speed limits. People mimse along relaxedly on mostly very fine empty roads in NSW anyway. This despite the presence of many old and new V8 engined cars and utes with fruity aftermarket exhausts. The Aussies like their cars.
I have been driving my SiL's deadpan high-mileage Daewoo. a bit foxed around the edges but fingers crossed still OK. In the Blue Mountains the other day the car in front suddenly stopped causing us to brake sharply. A little spiky thing with a snout was the cause, an echydna, the only egg-laying mammal apart from the platypus. Haven't seen one of those, or a live kangaroo although there are dead ones at the roadside like foxes in England.
Happy New Year. What's the weather like (snigger)?
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Glad your enjoying your break. It was really nice and mild here in Manchester the last few days... gone colder now. Car will probably be frozen in the morning.
To keep it motoring ;-) all should take care for a few days.... temperatures will be down. Safe driving.
I bet your SiL had something more like a Holden V8
Edited by rtj70 on 27/12/2008 at 01:59
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wondered why we hadn't had any Luddisms recently...hope you have a good time you lucky so and so
it's well cold here, roads are as slippery as hell, the temp guage on the car says 2 degrees C, but it feels colder than that, must be the wind chill...and the windscreens all need de-frosting
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Ah the wise one is a long way off, i for one am missing the thoughts and musings of the grand fellow, and looking forward to a full report on motoring in the colonies (don't let any of them see that, i won't dare drive through Earls Court again)
I'm already envious, it seems the Aussies like their proper cars, maybe we could send some of our more enlightened politicians over there to educate them in the error of their ways.
Yep the cars are fozen to hell, glad i got some mid winter wax on them (Christmas Day, a trifle eccentric, but had to take advantage of a warmish day and no work), but we have a garden full of song birds out there, all stuffing themselves on the various feeders.
Life is good. ;);)
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How awful for you Lud. I was only just thinking how lucky we are to be spending our festive break in the maelstrom of excitement generated by life in a nondescript northern town. So much not to do. Such thrillingly bracing dank gloomy weather. The opportunity to explore our local supermarket without the constraints of work commitments. It's just too stimulating.
I imagine you are crushingly bored at the prospect of yet another sunny warm day and the tedium of wide open spaces. I feel for you.
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 27/12/2008 at 09:48
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PS - Have you checked out how much it would be to hire one of those Monaro thingummies for a day or two? Got to be worth finding out!
;-)
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those Monaro thingummies for a day or two? Got to be worth finding out!
My own thoughts exactly, or hire a hilux/landcruiser/prado with roof tent for getting out to nowhereland for some real peace, bottle it and send a container load home...;)
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careful chaps...carry on like that and he won't be back
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Who could blame him if he was to "go walkabout" or even "driveabout" for a while? I'd quite like to!
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To be Honest, driving in aus is actually very boring. The roads are too modern, too straight. The best drive I had was in Tasmania, which is very European like in its roads.
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>>The roads are too moderntoo straight.
Nothing wrong with modern roads! Straight ones aren't nice, though, especially those 30mile stretches of flat tar through boring scrubland.
Locally, some of the "dead straights" have rumble strips every 10 ks or so, to wake up drivers who may be nodding off.
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Has anyone driven in New Zealand? SWMBO and I are going for first 2 weeks in February. I believe that there are few motorways and you need to relax and adjust to a slower pace of life - which makes it sound like Ireland, and no bad thing if so.
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It is a slower pace, like the old days, and beware it is a 9-5 opening times ? closed Sundays world.
Godzone is wonderful.
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Driving in NZ is like Yorkshire in the 1950s. Only motorways are around Wellington and Auckland; didn't see one in the South Island. Bridges over rivers tend to be long (to bridge flood channels, with planked decking and sometimes alarmingly narrow or single lane only. If the latter it pays to stare into the distance to see if anything is moving and if not to nip across smartish.
Most drivers potter along under the speed limit. The police are pretty ferocious so beware. If you are hiring a car and visiting both islands it is easier to hand back the car and rent another one when you get off the ferry. You'll have a wonderful time.
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Avondale is spot on.
I had ONE car hire contract.
Car A ( an auto) Auckland to Wellington Airport for the trip across the strait to South Island.
Car B ( an auto) waiting at the airstrip and then to Greymouth
Car C (a manual) waiting at Christchurch station and a few days to the airport.
Absolutely seamless. I did 3k in three weeks and bypassed Auckland.
Do check journey times. The roads are often not very fast but enjoyable.
I flew between the islands to save time. Most say the ferry is great and with super views en route.
A few tourist things
I went out two days running to see a sperm whale. second day I took one shot and it was gone. I understand there was only one there and they dive for up to 40 mins
www.whales.co.nz/
I loved this museum. www.kauri-museum.com/
This was great fun especially for kids. www.puzzlingworld.co.nz/
Doubtful Sound is a good trip but a long day and the weather can be awful.
Milford Sound. A big coach station for fleets of coaches. Can be very crowded. Coaches seemed to all arrive in the morning. The afternoon was peaceful in such a beautiful setting.
Heli trips up onto the Glaciier, weather permitting.
Enjoy
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Puzzling world & Milford
If you get to Puzzling world and are therefore in Wanaka, head to the cinema - brilliant collection of things to sit on to watch a movie, including a yellow Morris Minor. Makes sense when you're there, honest! www.paradiso.net.nz/about_the_cinema.html
To avoid the coaches to Milford, you can get a trip in a small plane from Wanaka to Milford - not cheap but you fly over the Southern Alps (?) and down the sound itself, spectacular!
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I went out two days running to see a sperm whale. second day I took one shot and it was gone. I understand there was only one there and they dive for up to 40 mins
Damn - sperm whales on strike that day Henry? so unreliable.
Reminds me of my trip to shark bay to see dolphins in northern WA. They were due in the morning but never showed, so a largish disappointed crowd melted away.
Later that evening as the sun was starting to dip in a huge red explosion, the wife and I were paddling in the gentle surf, whereupon a mother dolphin and its young calf suddenly appeared, the mother rubbing up against my wife's legs, and the young calf swimming between my open legs.
the planned stuff never works. its always the unexpected that surprises and delights.
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I am used to seeing many whales at Simonstown. There I can watch and listen to them from the comfort of my bed. :-)
>>The planned stuff never works. its always the unexpected that surprises and delights.
I tend to agree.
I went to swim with the dolphins @ Bay of Islands North NZ.
The Kiwi authorities are rightly very strict and you cannot swim with baby dolphins. However the skipper told the chattering masses to shut up and we had the pod alongside us with a mic in the water so we could listen to them.
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You can't go fast here really although the roads are good. Tooling along at 60-70 does get a bit boring, but it is relaxed and economical. They are more law-abiding then we are and think their speedometers are accurate, so one has to hustle past every now and then.
There is very little litter on Aussie streets. AE forgot to mention the pies here, which are very good and a weakness of mine. However I haven't tried crocodile or kangaroo, just peppered steak or 'plain', i.e. beef with lots of gravy. My wife and daughter ordered a vegetable pie the other day having failed to notice the caution on the menu: NOTE, all pies contain meat. Tee hee. The beer is surprisingly drinkable too.
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Where abouts in NZ are you aiming for, Avant? Two weeks is not long to cover such a big country! Feb is best time of the year for the weather though!
Edited by Nickdm on 25/01/2009 at 15:31
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Avant - One thing that will catch you out is the undertaking is legal here, so, if you are not in the left lane, beware of someone running up the inside. The other thing is that "Give way to the right" is absolute. If you are turning left at an intersection, and another driver wants to turn right into the same street, then YOU must give way because he is on your right. Utter confusion, because, if there is another driver behind you who is going straight on, the right-turn driver has to wait for him. Do you sneak around, or wait for ages ?? It is all a mater of judgement, which is just as lacking here as the forum suggests it is in UK.
Auckland is rather competitive [ I live on the outskirts , and found Naples to be quite comfortable by comparison] but otherwise driving is fairly relaxed. Boy-racers in cheap grey-import Japmobiles abound.
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