Stay left! Traveling to Australia, we worried about driving on the left, but Brother-in-Law Bob was up to the task. The other three of us just yelled. “Stay left!” Most unnerving was the almost-constant beeping from our rental car. Took us a half-hour to figure it out: the lane-departure warning. In his effort to stay left, Bob was hugging the solid white line next to the mountain on a very curvy road. 
Our Australia driving was limited––Cairns to Port Douglas and back––and that was plenty. In Sydney, we walked. Miles and miles everyday––we loved walking. More than once, as we meandered along the city streets, my sister admonished me: “I think we are supposed to walk on the left.”
“Oh, I don’t think it matters,” I’d reply, thinking of making my way through airport or sidewalk crowds. From my experience, people seemed to walk all over the place. Then one day we took a local bus to the Eastern seaboard and did the famed Bronte to Bondi Beach walk.
Anita again reminded me about walking on the left, but I ignored her until I overheard two local women chatting behind us: “Well, they drive on the right side, don’t they?” They’re talking about us. 
I realized my sister was right.
After that overheard tidbit of conversation, we gave it a good try but continued to drift over for photos of surfers and scenery because we were walking north with the coastline to our right. Maybe next time we will walk with the water on our left, north to south, Bondi to Bronte. 
Still, it’s a beautiful walk, in either direction.
Now that we’re home, and have walked again in Canadian and US cities and airports, I realize that we do tend to walk on the right, given a choice. But in Australia and New Zealand, stay left!
Travel date: May 2018 
Travel Tales amongst my Ramblings 
That beach walk is now on the list. Beautiful.
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Evelyn, this is a kick. Kinda reminds me
of our driving in Scotland, which is also
on the left. I was a wreck and kept leaning
to my right thinking that was going to
keep us from going too far left, when our
car would warn us. Next time we hire
a driver!
Your pictures are lovely.
Loretta
Sent from my iPhone
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Loretta – Had to laugh at “kept leaning to my right . . .” I know the feeling. And didn’t it seem like the people going in the other direction drove too close to center? (I’m with you on hiring a driver next time.)
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OMIGOSH…this post actually made me nervous for your safety, but it was still fun to read. It did bring back memories of being in England with a group of teachers in 1975 when one of them got hit by a car and ended up in the hospital. She had forgotten to look BOTH WAYS when crossing the street. By then my husband had gotten so used to driving on the left side that after we returned to the US he almost had an accident twice. STAY LEFT is a PERFECT TITLE.
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Hi Betty – I think being a pedestrian amongst traffic is almost more dangerous than driving in “stay left” countries.
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