Driving on the wrong side

 In the US, we drove on the right side of the road. In NZ, we drive on the "other side"--you know, the wrong side.  It is one of the craziest aspects to antipodean living.

The steering wheel is on the wrong side and, even after living here for 3 years, I still try to get in on the wrong side. It's not an isolated incident either, I do it all the time. Fortunately, I am better at staying on my side of the road.

When we first arrived, I made my husband do all the driving because I was afraid of doing the stick shift thing with my left hand.  He did a great job except when turning out of a parking lot. Always a disaster with me yelling,  "Keep left!! Keep left!!"  And, sometimes, on roads without any markings or stripes, he would start to drift toward the right.  It was definitely an adventure at first.

If I turn right, oncoming cars turning left have to yield to me

Now, it seems normal to drive on the left. The only thing remarkable now is this weird turning rule. If you are turning right, across traffic, you have the right away if the car coming your way wants to turn left.  Does that make sense?  If you are driving on the left side of the road and turning left, you must yield to any driver coming from the other direction who also wants to turn the same direction. It's hard to get used to--and I still am never sure whose turn it is.  Fortunately, Kiwis ALWAYS use their turn signal.  They are very polite drivers.

Of course, since we drive on the opposite side as the US, the drive through windows are on the opposite side, too.  This was something that used to tickle me to no end. Except it did have an end because it isn't that funny anymore.  It's just normal now.

We don't really have highways here like the US. Auckland, being the largest city with 1 million in population, has some highways but we barely have 5 miles worth of "motorway" in Christchurch--and all outside of the city. In the city, we have regular streets with stop lights. Or roundabouts, which take a bit of getting used to but I love them now.  Also, there is very little traffic in NZ except for Auckland. After all the earthquakes have messed up the roads in Christchurch, we are experiencing traffic here. It has been terrible to experience since we are no longer "used" to it  but is still nothing like a city in the US.

Speed limits here are generally 60 km/hour in town, and in less populated areas, they are 80 km/hour or 100 km/hour (about 60 mph).

Micky D's drive through

Kiwi intersection 

Bad traffic