Just suddenly struck me this morning, one reason why Adelaide is such a clear city, been staring me in the face for 4 months but only just put it into words today.

Driveways. And garages.
A quick look at any of the real estate sites will show you what I mean.

This place was built post internal combustion engine plus no shortage of land so the plots are all wide enough for at least a driveway and carport beside the house. Very few people park on the roadside, and anyway the roads are much wider so it doesn't cause congestion in the same way it does in a uk city.

Elaine

Elaine

How do you find driving around out there? Is it hectic (especially around cities) or not really any hassle compared to the UK?

Sasha :)

As an ex London cabbie, i can honestly say that Adelaide is like driving in an empty car park in comparison!!!

I was warned before coming that there were real traffic problems here....that is absolute balony!!... i have to drive from Glenelg to Glenside morning and evening and its a doddle...of course there are plenty of cars on the road, but nothing compared to UK and most of the time is constntly flowing apart from the bloody traffic lights which seem to stay red for an eternity!!

Driving in Adelaide is a breeze compared to Nottingham in the UK. Here in the city all the roads are in blocks really easy, out of the city no problemo!! The only thing you have to get used to are the amount of traffic lights, they always seem to be on red!!

Steve and Lynsie :angry:

Hey PP you beat me by about 30 seconds, you've been through those lights aswell !!!!!! :lol:

Well, when it comes down to it I'm a bit of a timid driver. I prefer to stick to roads and routes I know and absolutely hate having to navigate while driving on my own. I didn't drive for the first week we were here then hubby got a job and that left me to get on with the househunting... fortunately my son proved great at mapreading.

In general I'm happy driving just about anywhere here, though I do avoid the city centre which is just a bit too hectic for me. All the main routes are dual carriageway but subtly different from uk - every right turn has a slip lane and there are lights at least at every major junction. This means the traffic is always in the form of a bunch of vehicles, then a gap as the lights up the road go red. You never have to wait long to move out into heavy traffic or cross a road. Also, on the dual carriageways you can overtake in either lane.

We've done one long trip down to the Victoria border near Naracoorte which took 3.5 hours. The arterial roads are exceptionally good, no traffic holdups and just an easy drive.

The only traffic jam I see here is when two local schools turn out together and if I hit it at the wrong moment I might get caught behind 6 or 8 cars and wait (shock, horror) 3 or 4 mins to get out - you'd be amazed how soon you begin to curse things like this though you must be laughing at me :rolleyes:

Elaine

Have any of you been on long distance driving yet? My hubbie said sometimes when he was travelling he could see for miles on a straight road and not a single car in sight. Have you found this? Is it just mainly around the city there is loads of traffic and then when you get out it seems totally dead? He also said the same about the traffic lights in oz. :D

The other thing on this line of the difference - how to do find the cleanliness of the city? I know you have all said before that you get graffiti but how about litter and just the dumping of things - like the supermarket trolleys!

Sasha :)

LOL....Lynne...i think i spend a fair percentage of my life at "those" lights :unsure:

Went over to Narrandera for a weekend to see some friends from Nottingham, they now live in Brissy, they got sponsored for the 2 years. It took us 10 hours overnight to get there, never seen so many dead kangaroos . Had one jump in front of us doing 110kmh pooed myself left 20,ooo kms of rubber behind and he just bounced away!! Drove on a absolute straight bit of road for 61 minutes, passed 3 road trains, talk about tunnel vision!!

Steve and Lynsie :)

The longest drive we've had so far is just over 5 hours to Mount Gambia. Very good drive though I must say hardly no traffic on the roads even in rush hour. It was a bit hairy though when a big red roo jumped out in front and hopped to the other side, for an other 30 kms I was looking both sides of the grass verges for anything that was going to leap out.

Most Aussies here do very long drives and think nothing of it. Thing is too we did over 5 hours and didn't even leave South Australia.

Adelaide city is very clean well it is when I've been there, I still can't get used to how many parks are actually in the city where else would you get this ?

Juls

Hubbie said he heard a story about a man who ran over all the snakes except one wrapped itself around the wheel arch and jumped down and bit him when he stopped for fuel - needless to say he never got out of his van when he stopped for fuel! :o

The other one was when he stopped on the side of the road for the night and heard all this banging on the roof - he didn't want to look and was woken up by loud noises of something banging on his roof early hours of the morning. He drove off quickly after doing some serious damage to his pants and found it was a load of birds that had been using his roof as a perch for the night! :lol:

Sasha :)

Hi Sasha,

When we were in Adelaide last September we drove 6 hours to Whyalla on very long, straight roads. Saw a few Kangaroos too and a couple of road trains (I think that's what they are called).
You definitely knew when you were out of the City.
We also found Adelaide to be very clean compared to here.

Kelly.

I drove to Wagga Wagga Christmas Eve 2002.............a bloody long way for one driver. Fatigue is a real problem on a long haul. I made sure I kept stopping for a good break and a walk round but even so circumstances dictated I had to get there in one hit and about 180kms out of Wagga I was seeing things on the road that were simply not there in reality. It was quite frightening. I hit a roo on the Hay Plains after dark, almost pranged my mates ute that I was driving - thank god for bull bars - and couldn't pull over for about 50kms to inspect the damage.

If you are going to drive a long way, try and take 2 or more drivers, rest a lot when you can, and try to avoid driving at and after dusk - this is when the roos queue up at the side of the road to cross it just as you approach - they are attracted by the headlights. Fill up the petrol tank each and every time you come across a servo - some servos have free showers too - a good idea to refresh you. Oh and if you have cruise control be wary of using it for long distances and not keeping those legs moving - my ankles swelled up like balloons.

My trip was a real experience - particularly breaking down at 11.45pm on Christmas Eve about 80kms from the nearest house of any description. Luckily I was saved by a truckie who got the ute going, then offered to follow me all the way to Wagga in case I broke down again. I had never driven any real distance as the sole driver before and it taught me a lot. I was so proud of myself when I got back to Adelaide in one piece on Boxing Day.

Oh yeah I forgot - we could see the headlights from other cars for ages before we passed on the road. Sometimes it was almost half an hour before we met on the road. I also drove through an amazing dust storm on the way home in the Hay Plains.

And the stars at midnight on Christmas morning out in the middle of nowhere were just incredible.

This is such a great thread, i almost wet my self, laughing. It,s the sudden realisation , that hey "we are in a big country" always amazes me............mm

Imagine getting in your car in England and driving five or six hours - you'd get about 50 miles or so :bouncing smiles:

We did a big drive new year time. We went from Adelaide to sydney via Broken Hill and Dubbo, (fascinating places). We stayed in Syd. for a few nights (roads are easy there too).
Then drove back via the "bottom roads" through Canberra(boring but has to be done!)
Then on through Mildura - lovely restaurants etc. Wagga Wagga and Berri well worth a visit too. We shared the driving, knackered the Mitsubishi but all enjoyed it immensley, its a fascinating country, and we have only seen a teeny weeny bit of it! Diane :medium smiley2: