Driving Aussie Style

We have been here four weeks and have survived driving on the wrong side of the road, driving is bad enough, but the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car too! The mirrors seem wrong, we keep looking to the right for the rear view mirror, but it is to the left, old habits are hard to break. But the really tough one is the windshield wipers and the turn signals are opposite too. When Elder Montague started driving, we started counting how many times he would turn the windshield wipers on when there was no rain in sight! They say that is the sign of an American driver. He is trying to turn on the turn signal but the wipers start going. There is also a whole new lingo, bonnets are hoods, boots are trunks, kilometers are miles, not really, but you understand. Speed limits and distance signs are in kilometers too. You can't make a left turn on a red light, but there is such a thing as a slip road, which will slip you around a corner without stopping, if you give way (yield) to oncoming traffic. The first thing we bought here was a GPS, we chose it based on the fact that we could change the voice to an American accent, very handy, believe me. All the lanes are narrower, all the parking stalls are skinnier, you go around a round about (which are plentiful) by going around to the left. To make things really laughable, Elder Montague, on top of finances has been made  fleet (car) manager. In the last two weeks we have attended five zone conferences and inspected 55 cars. Sister Montague has gotten good at saying "tight" when Elder Montague is too far left!  She has driven three times around the neighborhood, and is trying to work up her courage for more. There are speed cameras and red light cameras, but they give you enough warnings, with signs, to slow down or make sure you don't run a red light. But every week we get mailed the tickets the missionaries have managed to get, they have to pay them themselves, the average is $220 dollars for going 13 kilometers over the limit, which is eight miles over. Expensive and stupid, just hope we don't get one. Instead of a caution sign on the roadside warning of deer in the area there are signs with koalas and kangaroos on them. Driving here is a white knuckle experience, but we have managed to survive so far and we are getting better at it.