Once we got our rental car, we were on the road, on the left side of the road, that is. Gerard got elected to be the first driver in New Zealand in our clunky, old rental van. It was a little freaky at first, especially feeling so tired. Immediately, we discovered that two clichés we heard about NZ are in fact true: Auckland is a very congested city at rush hour and Kiwi roads are not designed to accommodate so many cars. The major highway that runs from the airport which is south of Auckland toward Auckland does not connect with the major highway (motorway) that goes to the north of Auckland. You are obligated to navigate city streets that often run one-way or forbid certain turns and weave your way somehow to the other motorway. A mixture of our awkwardness driving on the left-side, the maze-like road conditions and thousands of impatient commuters led us to be lost for a good twenty minutes before we found our road and started to sail northward. Once on the right road, it was easy to find Puhoi. Beth didn’t attempt to drive until we bought our minivan five days later.
With time, you do get comfortable driving on the left-side, but some things take more practice. For example, you shift gears with your left hand and your turn signal is on the right-hand side of the steering wheel, while the windshield wiper controls are on the stick to the left of the wheel. Hence, you find yourself frequently “signaling” with your windshield wipers and when it rains you turn on your turn signal. (You might not even know this, because it is so automatic to us, but in the States the turn signals and windshield wipers are on the other sides of the steering column.) Fortunately, the right pedal is still the gas and the left is still for braking (and the clutch is on the extreme left too).
There are some very bizarre yield (give way) rules that never seem intuitive. Consider the following example, which is presented as though you were driving in the US on the right-hand side of the road because it is too difficult to describe the weirdness of this when explained for the left-side driving conditions. You approach an intersection and want to make a right-hand turn. A car coming the opposite direction from you wants to make a left-hand turn (turn into the same street you are turning into). That car has the right of way, not you! (Again, just to emphasize, in the US and everywhere else in the world that we have been, you have the right of way.) Why do they have this complete counter-intuitive rule – because it is more difficult for the approaching car to turn left, they are favored in order to help clear the intersection. Actually, when you think about it, this is a reasonable reason; however, it is just not intuitive to us while driving.
So far, we have been lucky to have made no major driving mistakes. Admittedly, there have been a couple close calls. Gerard had the unfortunate incident of trying to navigate alone while driving and ended up going up the wrong way of the exit ramp of the motorway. Luckily, Beth didn’t follow him in the “new” used minivan, but then she had to remember by memory where we were supposed to meet. It all worked out in the end, but we were both nervous that it would ruin the afternoon.
