I made my first attempt at driving on the left side of the road the other day and despite some eye rolling from the crew and a nervous Steve (or two) I thought it went pretty well.
It wasn’t really all that hard and after almost sideswiping a sign and knocking a few things over in the van, as I got use to the steering, it was basically smooth sailing from there.
As the only female on the trip that volunteered to take on some of the driving burden during this early leg of the trip I expected some nervous glances and maybe even some criticism but what the guys don’t know is that I am sort of a driving fanatic.
Ever since I could remember I loved to drive. When I was a kid I use to tag along with my dad when he went golfing just to drive the cart and would sit on his lap and steer our big family van home after school. Once, I even “borrowed” my mom’s old Buick, when I was about 12-years-old, for a joy ride around the block. My seventeenth birthday (the legal driving age in NJ) couldn’t come fast enough for me or my parents.
Anyway, back to my maiden-driving voyage… So for several days, from Sydney to Melbourne, we had been driving through these really nice, wide, open country roads which helped build up my confidence but it turns out the day I decided to try my hand behind the wheel the Great Ocean Road became a great winding road. I had to tackle one of the toughest parts of the drive with hairpin turns and steep cliffs around every turn.
Other than Shoppman crying out “whoa, whoa, whoa” (when I almost hit the sign) there were no other comments about my day as campervan driver and only time will tell if I get handed the keys again.
