Driving a lawn mower on the wrong side of the road

On the flight to Sydney, I decide to rent a car and drive to Jervis Bay, home to Booderee National Park and where they are supposed to have the most amazing white sand beaches. I really want to see more of Australia before settling in Sydney for the last leg of my journey. Given my extended stay in New Zealand, I’ve had to give up my hope of going to Adelaide for wine tasting in the Barossa Valley with a side trip to Kangaroo Island. L

After going through customs, I walk over to the rental car area and look into getting a car. To my surprise, they only have large cars left and it’s going to cost $200-$300 for a 2 day rental. What? For that kind of money, I could fly all the way to Adelaide. Maybe I should rethink my decision. So I pull out my laptop, hop on-line and low and behold am able to book a smaller car online for less than $100. You’ve got to love the internet. I walk back over to the counter with my confirmation number and get my car at a much cheaper rate than what the staff originally quoted. As I’m putting my stuff away, another couple walks up to the counter looking for a car and am told the same thing I was, the cheapest rental is $289. I told them, go book it online and you’ll get a much better deal. So that’s exactly what they did too.

After missing a turn and getting completely lost, I finally get on the right highway and am on my way. I have to admit, driving here is more of an adventure than abseiling down waterfalls. Everything is completely backwards from what we’re used to. I have to keep telling myself, “Stay to the left, stay to the left.” I’m so afraid, I’m going to make a turn and wind up driving on the wrong side of the road. I must have turned my windshield wipers on at least 100 times instead of turning my blinker on. I even keep reaching to my left to put the seatbelt on. Did I mention my car sounds like a lawnmower? I keep checking to make sure it’s in drive. It sounds like I’m driving my Jeep down the 405 at 70 miles an hour in 2nd gear! I keeping thinking this car is going to blow up at any moment! Something must be wrong. It goes on like this for almost an hour. I finally pull over for lunch and when I get back in the car, everything seems fine. Still don’t know what was up with the car, but at least it doesn’t sound like a lawn mower anymore.

What a beautiful drive this is. I stop more than once to take some pictures of the majestic scenery. It reminds the Traveling Hillbilly of the recent drive along California’s Pacific Coast Highway to Carmel. At one point I see beautiful blue sunny skies to my right and dark, gloomy clouds to my left. My hopes of the sun moving in were quickly dashed as rain drops started to hit the windshield.

As I continue on, I pass a few wineries and drive through this quaint little town called Berry. It is like stepping back in time. It reminds me a little of Carmel. I decide to stop here and take some time to walk through the town. What a truly charming place. I might have to stop for lunch here or at least a latte on my way back through to Sydney.

I arrive in Jervis Bay. It’s a pretty little beach side town and I can tell it’s going to be a quiet sea side place. After driving around for a bit, I start looking for accommodations. I wind up renting a little cabin right by the bay. It’s painted a light blue and even has a front porch but of course, no internet access. I drop my stuff off and head out to explore Booderee National Park. How will the hikes here compare to Tongariro?