The last weekend, Maggi and I drove to the sunshine coast with a hired car. The decision to do this “holiday in the vacation” came up in mind last thursday. To discover the beautiful beach and collect some experiences of “driving on the false side” were the key arguments.

We rented a car for three days at a car renter at the brisbane international airport. Afterwards, the location “airport” was not a great decision, not because of the car rental company, but the trip to the airport is very expensive. (not the whole trip, only the way between the last station before the airport and the airport.) If anybody wants to hire a car in Brisbane, we advise to hire a car at an other place (except you do want to hire a car directly after flight arrival). The woman behind the car rental company desk was very friendly and explained all the things we have to do different the next time :

• you have to carry a print of your voucher
• you have to be at the corner at the time you have ordered (and not 2 hours later as we did)
• it’s better to go to the other corner (at the domestic airport)
  notice: in the booking info wasn’t any information about the exact position of the corner

After about half an hour of explanation, we were able to get on the car. We hired a little Toyota (Maggi knows the exact type, but I don’t). The distance between the airport and our hotel was about 140 kilometer. It was important not to drive to long for the frist time. We arrived our hotel in Coolum Beach on time and without any serious damages. But, what are the key challenges to drive in Australia:

• the roundabouts are a bit different compared with the ones we have in Switzerland. Most of them are bigger (most have two lines). Also the way of indicating the direction is divergent: Before you enter the roundabout, you have to show the direction (left blinking for the left exit, no blinking go straight away, and right blinking for the right exit).
• Keeping the car in the middle of the street could be a little challenge. Because you’re having the seat on the right side, you have to be aware not to drive too much on the left side.
• The most serious problem was the mistake between the windscreen wiper and the blinking operate stick (or however this thing is called :-)).

In conclusion, the experiment of driving in Australia wasn’t that serious as we expected. Of course, driving in Australia needs more attention in compare with driving in Switzerland. We hired a automatic car (the best invention in car engineering), therefore we were able to focus in the different functions and environments here in Queensland. As a non-rountine driver, I must be attentive all the time, also in my hometown.