How would they know which way we are going?

The inspiration for the title of this post is the scene in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" in which John Candy's character ends up driving on the wrong side of the interstate, and a couple driving on the correct side yells out the window at them that they are "Going the Wrong Way!"  John Candy thinks the other couple must be drunk, and wonders aloud the title above...

Anyway, driving here on the left has been comedic, terrifying and exciting (for the passengers)  but, really, I don't find it very difficult to do the actual driving at all.  It's kind of obvious where you should be, and especially when there are other cars around you have lots of cues.  Jen has not really been interested in driving here. Or rather she is a big fat chicken that does not want her children screaming at her from the back seat as she has a panic attack while entering the roundabout.  We still occasionally are startled to see that a child or a dog is in the driver's seat or that the driver is paying absolutely no attention to the road! (Only then to realize of course that they are in the passenger side:)

The biggest issue for me is with the basic set-up of the instruments, indicators and gauges.  For the first week, just about every time I went to signal for a turn, I turned on my windshield wipers instead.  And, since it was raining on and off at times, I could casually act like I had done what I meant to do.  It gets a little tougher to pull that off when it's sunny.  Also, I am thinking it will be October before I walk out of the grocery store and habitually walk to the correct side of the car.  You can only pretend so often that you were checking the tire pressure on the left front tire before enduring mockery from your children.

The other main difference is with how the roads are set up.  There are few if any stoplights and no stop signs.  Almost everything is a "give-way" (yield) sign from side streets ending at major streets, and there are these awesome roundabouts  at almost every major intersection, and the signaling is pretty important to let people know how long you are staying in the roundabout and when you are exiting.  So...as long as other drivers are interpreting what it means when my windshield wipers are going at intermittent, I have the situation covered...Also, the signs for which lanes are turn lanes are not above the intersection, but are only painted on the pavement, and are counterintuitive.  So I keep ending up in turn lanes when I think I am in the go-straight lane, and vice versa.  Which is not a problem. I clear the windshield of excess pollen, then properly signal, and get on with my drive.

New Zealand has few if any two lane highways, and we understand that those they do have are entirely in Auckland.  So highways connecting towns are really country roads, windy and pretty narrow.  Town speed limits are 60km/hr and then country it was 100km/hr.  Which sounds pretty slow, until you have actually driven on these narrow, windy roads.  Our one excursion out of town (up the Wanganui River Road) had one other awesome feature - the one lane bridge and one lane narrow road.  You either had the right of way, or you had to give way until the bridge was clear, or until the very narrow stretch of road was clear.   There were these signs with colored arrows telling you if you had the right of way.  Except that it seemed like the locals always figured they had the right of way.  A whole lotta "game of chicken" that day, and I am no Kevin Bacon.

The equally big adjustment has been to being a pedestrian and to biking around town.  We naturally look the wrong way when crossing a street, and are used to cars yielding to pedestrians or bikes in crosswalks.  Not so much here.  Cars have the right of way it seems, unless you win the game of chicken and just cross.  Wouldn't want to lose that game vs. a car, though.  But everyone is legally required to wear a helmet while biking here so at least there is that safely element.

To end, the best part of driving thus far is how little of it we are doing, due to the small size of town and the fact that I can bike to town/grocery/fruit market or to the schools, etc.  It used to seem like we spent half of our lives in the car, Jen especially since getting to work took at least 45 minutes each way.  Thank goodness we don't have to do that on a daily basis, since "petrol" is quite expensive (to the tune of about $7.50 US dollars per each gallon.) But when I do have to drive, due to rain or time constraints, "I am an excellent driver" (my original post title, referencing Rain Man.)

A couple other quick updates: Lindsay won her school's cross country race this past week, and so she gets to go to the regional race and represent her school.  This last race was WITH shoes as it was on cobblestones (weak excuse we thought:).  Lauryn's adventure racing team won their competition down in Wellington, and now get to go to the Great Barrier Island (which is off the coast near Auckland) later this term.  Kendra went out with the tramping (hiking) club in hopes of meeting people her age but ended up spending an entire day with 65 years and up folks.  So she is still looking to make some friends her age.  Jen successfully completed her first week of work at the hospital without harming anyone despite not understanding half of what people say to her.  And Pete is busy experimenting with different recipes for lamb.

Hope you are well, and please keep us updated!

Peter, Jen, Kendra, Lauryn and Lindsay