Driving in Australia

Hang on to your eskies, it's going to get rocky... in yer Holden ute.

In SE Queensland at least driving is generally less manic than in the UK but can be stressful for different reasons. You can use your UK licence for driving through Australia but if you settle here you will need to apply for the relevant state licence.

Traffic on motorways is usually less congested -unless some plonker in a ute has caused a pile up - but inevitably there can be rush hour jams in the CBD like all cities. While British motorists can be at worst arrogant, vengeful (!) and aggressive, and at best polite, Queensland drivers seem to drive as though they have never encountered other drivers on the road before. Use of mirrors is limited, there is no real recognition of the needs of other road users and don't even get me started on roundabouts!!

Beautiful Noosa appears to be the first region in oz to introduce the revolutionary (geddit?) concept of roundabouts. The only thing is, knowing how to use a roundabout correctly is not part of the driving test and consequently nobody knows how to use them properly unless they've bothered to look up the road rules. Every time I tentatively enter one of these roundabouts I feel I'm risking life and limb, and have seen many hair raising moments. My advice is to expect the worst and indicate as though your life depends on it because it just might!