Some thoughts on Australia

First, let me say that I love Australia; it will always have a special place in my heart and I do not mean to offend.

That said, I thought it might be interesting to mention a few things that are done a bit differently Down Under.

Take Road signs:

I can see the above sign, near an airport for new arrivals, but miles into our drive on the Great Ocean Road? Kind of late for a reminder, don't ya think?

The yellow sign made me smile - just incase you might forget that you are in the country with 9 out of the 11 most poisonous snakes in the world!

This is called a 'hook turn' and is done in Melbourne. Since there are no right turn lanes (remember you are driving on left side of the road) due to the tram tracks, this is what you must do to make a right turn. Drivers pull over to temporarily park perpendicular to stopped traffic - as in right in front of them - then when the light turns green, you very quickly make your right turns before the oncoming traffic runs you over! no joke. It was amazing to see and since everyone does it (or very courageous drivers in my humble opinion! or maybe very desperate ones!) I didn't hear any angry horn honking to say "get the heck out of my way" ya Grub!

Have I mentioned my new word? Saw a fight started during a rugby game on TV over one player calling another "a grub". I love it!

City and town names: I challenge you to pronounce these: and I'm not kidding, these are real towns that we drove through or near.

Jindabyne, Wangaratta, Porepunkah, Koo-Wee-Rup, Murrumbidgee, and Errinundra.

and we think our gasoline is expensive? Gas is sold by the liter and was running between AU$1.33 - 1.49 while we were there. That is almost US$6.00 a gallon my friends!!!

Miscellaneous:

Yards are called 'gardens'.

On the whole, they are very family oriented.

On a two lane highway, which most rural roads are, pulling a caravan (travel trailer) they can be VERY stubborn about pulling over to let stacked up traffic pass. There is also very little roadside 'rubbish' (garbage or trash); the US could take a big lesson in that.

They still love their morning or afternoon tea break with a tasty snack or sweet (or sometimes called 'smoke-O').

We discovered that almost every town has a wonderful Information Center which has numerous maps and brochures and friendly employees ready to tell you what is interesting to see in the vicinity. All free :) As travelers, we appreciated the abundance of clean public toilets.

We were a little unlucky with this trip in that the Aussie dollar was very strong which made everything a little more expensive for those of us with US dollars. One US$1.00 = AU$1.08

In case you're wondering if Australia should be on your 'Bucket List', let me say, very strongly, YES! Remember it is as big as the USA but if you can only make it to Sydney - preferably on New Years Eve to see the spectacular fireworks in their beautiful harbor - it would be well worth the long air flight. We have yet to see Cairns or snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef so I can't recommend that. Yet.