"Just remember, stay on the left side of the road, THE LEFT, THE LEFT.."

On our third day in Queenstown we had to pick up our rental campa, which you can see in our photo album (its the big green and purple looking spaceship). Driving was going to be a major test because neither Maria nor I had ever driven on the wrong side of the road and since we were in a rental car, we were particullarly scared of crashing into anything and everything. We woke up early to pack up our things as check out was at 10am (seems a bit early to me, especially when New Zealanders typically don't go out until late). We stacked our things outside of the room and spent the morning watch TV on my computer. Jucy, our rental company, picked us up at our hostel and drove us to the airport where we would recieve our vehicle. We talked to our driver about driving on the wrong side of the road and she said that the one thing that you had to remember was to stay on the left. Our travel guide had said pretty much the same thing, adding that in New Zealand there were a few slight differences. There is no free turn on red lights, although many of the New Zealanders we talked to said that they wished there were. Also, when turning, the car making the longer turn has the right of way. For example, if I am driving down the road, on the left side, and I see a McDonalds down a street on the left, I have to yeild to the car travelling in the opposite direction that wants to make the same turn. New Zealand drivers seem to be pretty forgiving though, as if our hideous monstrosity on wheels didn't already give us away as foreigners. Pickup of the van went fine, and for some reason it was decided that I would drive first. I suppose that we were most likley to get in an accident immidiately, and this way it would be my fault. We didn't have much trouble getting out of the parking lot, and driving back to the hostel wasn't too bad either, especially with Maria constantly screaming to stay on the left. We even drove much slower than we needed too, getting repeatedly passed by more experienced locals. We made it back to the hostel in one piece, killing only two children, one puppy and thirteen sheep on the way home.