Behind the Wheel

I've now seen what it's like on the other side of the road...

The other day my friend Diego offered to take a few friends and me to a place called Hanmer Springs about 1 1/2 hours from Christchurch. On a chilly, rainy day, nothing sounded better than soaking in 105 degree water for a few hours.

So we hopped in Diego's van and off we were. A few minutes into the ride, Diego turned to me and said, "You want to drive?" He pulled over and I climbed into the driver's seat. Everyone in the car was looking at me like I'd never driven before. And I kind of felt that way. Everything in the car was backwards, the shifter was on the left of me, I was sitting on the right. I tried to switch on my turn signal before I pulled out, but I turned on the wipers. I made this mistake many times on the drive as the wipers and turn signals are on opposite sides of the steering wheel than usual.

The drive was pretty hilarious at times. I had a tendency to drive too far to the left of the lane and several times Diego yelled, "Move to the right! Move to the right!" as he saw his side-view mirrors nearly brush against a cliff. And for the most part, I didn't have too much trouble staying on the correct side of the road (except when I tried to make a u-turn).

We all survived and the drive was beautiful. I had been getting anxious to explore outside of the city, and this drive gave a little taste of what NZ has to offer. We passed tons of sheep, cow, and deer (!) farms. It's pretty interesting seeing a deer farm considering how many deer we have running around (and into our cars) at home.

So now I've learned all about NZ driving laws such as giving way (yielding) to traffic that is turning right, even if it is crossing over other lanes and no turning on red lights! And apparently they're pretty strict about all these silly laws they have. Throughout my driving lesson, Diego rattled off all of the pricey fines that NZ traffic cops love to award lucky winners.

Sidenote: Police officers do not carry guns in NZ! This is basically the safest country in the world! So for anyone that was worried about my safety here, hopefully this fact will appease your troubled mind.

So that's it for now. Chances of climbing several times this week are looking good, so there will be more to write very soon!