The Great Trip

The Perilous Circle and Other Driving Foes

Do you realize they drive on the wrong, well unusual, side of the road here in NZ? We were sent out on the road for this new adventure with a pat on a back and a hearty “Good on ya mate” (Translation: Good for you, have a great time.) from the rental agent and no warnings about the basic rules of the road and how they might differ from driving back home in the USA with the sole exception of; “Oh ya mate, member ta staye ta the lef out there”. I realized very quickly that driving was going to be the first real adrenaline pumping experience and it wasn’t even in the brochure.

The first great test of my driving abilities came not more than 30 minutes after we left the rental office. My fateful navigator and loving wife notified me that I was to make a right turn at the round-a-about to head to the quaint seaside town of Devonport. In my quiet panic I repeated the words round-a-bout in my head while a constant look of the archetypal American-on-a-round-a-bout played in my head; Clark Griswold in European Vacation. If time and/or good taste has prevented you from seeing that movie let me attempt to describe the scene; picture in your minds eye four lanes of cars, circling like hungry sharks around a fifty foot monolith with Queen Victoria atop, then notice that all the lanes of traffic appear to be traveling in a clockwise direction with seven streets spiking off the circle at regular intervals and no visible traffic controls. Upon entering the round-a-bout, Clark discovers as he is being sucked to the innermost lanes that gravity, second only to a black-hole, will keep him driving in the circle until well after sunset. Anissa, being an excellent navigator, notified me of our impending fate with enough time for me to play this scene no less than 23 times before the circle of my greatest fear came in to view. If Anissa hadn’t been talking about visiting this quaint little sea village for the last two days I would have most likely suggested that we make a u-turn, only slightly less scary, and head to someplace not requiring a round-a-bout in transit.

As we approached, my heart began to pound in my head. Thump thump. Thump thump. Then to my great relief, there was no statue of Queen Vic, no dizzying array of street options and only one lane traveling in a circle. Then the moment of truth: fighting every fiber of my being screaming at me to turn right, even into the oncoming traffic, I strained both muscle and mind to turn left following the road clockwise and again turning left off the circle to make a right turn into Devonport. I wiped a small bead of sweat from my brow and breathed a sigh of relief. Until that moment I had no clue how much of my driving was done completely by routine, and furthermore, relied on me being on the left hand side of the car.

This was most evidenced by the fact that for the first few days of the journey I couldn’t use my center rearview mirror at all. Not that the mirror didn’t function, but each time I would look up to check the traffic behind me I would find myself staring into the trees across the right-side of the road. Then, while I was dazed wondering why I was looking at the trees I would be jolted back to reality by the feel of the wheels bouncing on the shoulder, never getting to see what was happening behind me (in case you were wondering: left-shoulder, not right. Thank God).

In all honesty, driving on the left side of the road is not such an uncomfortable thing to do. Anybody who has ever driven down a one-way street has most likely driven on the left side of the road without any discomfort or perhaps even noticing. What really shakes you to the bone is doing it from the other side of the car and seeing traffic coming at you from the lane you feel, with every fiber of you being, you are supposed to be traveling in. Even after my comfort level had begun to approach that of normal driving, when driving at night I would see the headlights of an oncoming truck appear from around a blind corner coming at me from the right side, and there was a moment of panic that the truck was on the wrong side of the road and I was going to die. Now. Then after a quick checklist I would feel comfortable that we were both in our proper lanes and death was not immanent. Such relief you can not imagine easily.

I am now such good driver on the other side of the road that I expect to have to retrain myself once I get back to states. We have many more stories to share and I will try to get them posted before a month goes by again.

Cheers for NZ 

posted by Rion and Anissa @ 10:00 PM