On our return to Sydney we decided that we needed to rent a car before we are able to buy ourselves one. The location of our apartment is really good for the ferry stop to get into the city but not so good for getting anywhere else as it’s not near the food shops, gym or bus stops like our last apartment was. We also new that the car would come in handy for transporting all the new stuff we would need to buy for our as yet unfurnished apartment.
Lawrence (Adam’s work colleague) and his wife Kuben currently hold the record for the number of tickets/fines issued for breaking the rules of the road. I really hope that we don’t over take them. After the first couple of days of having a car it looked like we could come close!
On only the second day of having the car we were issued with a parking ticket! What a way to start! We haven’t actually worked out how to get into our apartments garages yet so had to park on the road. To be fair to us, there were other cars parked along that stretch of road so we thought that it would be fine. Obviously not! There were no road markings like our lovely double yellow lines to warn us not to park there, only a stupid little sign that was not very clear or easy to see. Apparently all the cars behind us were parked ok we were just one space too far!! Luckily we discovered that a space had opened up in front of our apartment and in the middle of a row of cars. No possibility that this could be a no parking Zone! So we hopped in the car drove it over the road and reversed parked it (oblivious to our next road faux pas!)
The following day I was returning home from having visited Adam for lunch in the city, when a man called out to me “excuse me, is your car the Falcon?” Urrmm, is it?! I turned round squinted at the name on the car and replied “yes it is.” This very kind guy then proceeded to tell me that he had noticed the car yesterday and wanted to know whose it was so he could warn us about not parking there because of a fine. I told him that, sadly, we had already found out about that! He then told me that I should move my car again as he had just seen the ranger drive down the road and he was sure he would be back to give me another fine! “Why would he fine me?” I asked. “Surely it’s ok to park here, look at all of the other cars!” He then told me that I was ok to park there but I had to turn my car around so that it was facing the other way! I had to ask him to clarify what he had just said as it sounded so bizarre, I wondered if perhaps he was having a joke with me to get us back for winning the Ashes (they aren’t happy about it, it’s been doom and gloom on the TV) He chuckled and told me that I had been living in Europe for too long! I told him that I was a European and had only just moved here. He said look at all the other cars in the row… my goodness they were all facing in the opposite direction to mine! He then told me that you have to park facing the same way as the flow of traffic! I promptly thanked him very much, got in the car and turned it around. Pheww, I had managed to avoid another fine! Note to ones self – Go and buy a highway code and spod up on the crazy road rules!
Even Aussies can find parking rules and regulations confusing! Whilst speaking to one of Adam’s work colleagues, I found out that he also finds the parking rules and signs difficult to understand. He even told me that you can get fined for parking the wrong way in a space! In some places you have to go in forward and in others you have to back in!!! Who knows the reasoning behind this?
A confusing Parking sign. Apparently 4P means a limit of 4 hrs parking time
This is 'angle parking' Here the sign tells you what angle to park at and whether you should reverse in or go in forwards!!
Just while I’m on the subject of ridiculous road rules I wish to have a bit of a rant about turning right! They don’t seem to like doing it over here! Nearly every right turn is forbidden with a big sign. The problem is it’s not marked on any of the maps, so navigating your way around a new route is a nightmare! To make matters worse some of the right turns are only forbidden at certain times of the day, so it can get really confusing.
I’ve also heard that they’re really strict on speeding and are not afraid to slap heavy fines on you and ban you from driving! With this knowledge I am desperately trying to persuade Adam that we don’t need to buy a high performance sports car that he can bomb around in as he’s likely to pick up lots of fines! I’m not sure how successful I will be. We’re going car shopping at the weekend, so we’ll see what we end up with!
OMG!!! Adam has just informed me that every bank holiday weekend and ‘special’ dates are known as ‘Double Demerit Days’. This means that any driving offence committed during this period will incur double ‘demerits’ (the equivalent of points on your licence in the UK)!
You’ll be glad to know that we have worked out how to use the garage now! Thankfully so far we have managed to avoid any more fines (fingers crossed!)
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