Getting back to yesterday.
As I mentioned we left Monarto Park at 2 pm for our drive back to Melbourne. It was just over 600 km, and it took us 7 hours.
I must say I am impressed with the drivers in Australia. I haven't come across one yahoo, who tailgated, or drove like crazy. The speed limit on the highway is 100 or 110, and nobody drove more than 10 over the limit.
There were a couple of radar traps as we went through towns.
The only multi-lane roads are near the big cities, Adelaide and Melbourne. The rest of the major highways are two lane roads. One nice thing is there isn't a lot of traffic, everyone drives sanely, and there are passing lanes every 5 to 10 km.
The highways do go through every little town along the route. I guess it's like our secondary roads, like Highway 6 or 5.
We didn't see any vineyards, but there were many canola farms. They are the most gorgeous brilliant yellow, especially in large fields.
The ministry of transport seems to have an obsession about drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Every 15 minutes, or so, there is another sign.
"Open your eyes; Fatigue kills" I wonder how you read that one if your eyes aren't open.
"Stop every 2 hours, for a rest".
"Feeling drowsy; have powernap"
My favorite though. " Drowsy drivers die".
I feel like adding; " So does everyone else"
The rest areas along the road are called "Powernap Areas"
Another small difference between the cars here, and the ones at home is that the turn signals are on the right side of the steering column, the windshield wipers are on the left.
For the first few days this is what happened whenever I turned:
Turn on the wipers
Say a bad word
Turn on the signal
Turn off the wipers.
But I am learning.
Today was another Day of Rest. Sandy did the laundry, some grocery shopping, catching up on email, lots of reading.
Tomorrow is back to being a tourist.
Ralf
As I mentioned we left Monarto Park at 2 pm for our drive back to Melbourne. It was just over 600 km, and it took us 7 hours.
I must say I am impressed with the drivers in Australia. I haven't come across one yahoo, who tailgated, or drove like crazy. The speed limit on the highway is 100 or 110, and nobody drove more than 10 over the limit.
There were a couple of radar traps as we went through towns.
The only multi-lane roads are near the big cities, Adelaide and Melbourne. The rest of the major highways are two lane roads. One nice thing is there isn't a lot of traffic, everyone drives sanely, and there are passing lanes every 5 to 10 km.
The highways do go through every little town along the route. I guess it's like our secondary roads, like Highway 6 or 5.
We didn't see any vineyards, but there were many canola farms. They are the most gorgeous brilliant yellow, especially in large fields.
The ministry of transport seems to have an obsession about drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Every 15 minutes, or so, there is another sign.
"Open your eyes; Fatigue kills" I wonder how you read that one if your eyes aren't open.
"Stop every 2 hours, for a rest".
"Feeling drowsy; have powernap"
My favorite though. " Drowsy drivers die".
I feel like adding; " So does everyone else"
The rest areas along the road are called "Powernap Areas"
Another small difference between the cars here, and the ones at home is that the turn signals are on the right side of the steering column, the windshield wipers are on the left.
For the first few days this is what happened whenever I turned:
Turn on the wipers
Say a bad word
Turn on the signal
Turn off the wipers.
But I am learning.
Today was another Day of Rest. Sandy did the laundry, some grocery shopping, catching up on email, lots of reading.
Tomorrow is back to being a tourist.
Ralf
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment