Australia and Cars

Nice write up there.
Thankfully not all of Australia is so anal about speeding
It starting to get that way up here slowly.
We got speed limits on the open roads only 2 years ago now. Before that it was as fast as you like!
Now is 130 but you dont get nailed for 1-2kmh over as you do down south.
Oh and then there is the joy of double demerits on public holidays! We dont have that here either!
 
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[TW]Fox;14614990 said:
Then once you've mastered that you need to realise that you can only park on the left hand side of the road - so you can't drive across traffic to park in a space. I got that one wrong as well. You park in the direction of travel otherwise I presume small children die or something.
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You are supposed to park in the direction of travel in this country if on a road. Reflectors are on the rear of cars and only work if you are approaching from the rear...
 
[TW]Fox;14614905 said:
Nope, they are called Lancers. Badged up as Lancers as well.
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There are a couple of Aussie imports over here. I can't for the life of me understand why people have bothered importing the Aussie ones though, the JDM Mirage Asti is the same car but with vastly superior engines, trim and spec.
 
It's an awesome country and I love the cars out there too, if it wasn't for my wife's sentimental attachment to her family I'd be back out there in a heartbeat, seems a waste having Aussie citizenship and living in the UK.
 
Was born there and my sister has moved back.. top thread Fox. I'm probably going out next year for a bit and really looking forward to it.
 
The main issue with motoring in Australia is the difference in the way vehicle insurance is dealt with, which in turn has a negative impact to road safety. In the UK you have the vehicle excise licence and a compulsory minimum of 3rd party personal/vehicle/property insurance. This makes it difficult if not very expensive for a young inexperienced driver to drive a powerful vehicle. Therefore, your younger drivers tend to be limited to the least powerful vehicles. This of course excludes those persons driving illegally.

In Australia the vehicle registration (rego - equivalent of the road tax/excise licence) includes compulsory 3rd party insurance. This insurance is only for 3rd party personal injury and being included with the rego is not age or experience tested. The rego is all that is required to legally drive a motor vehicle on the road (in SA there is no MOT equivalent, although other states do have a yearly roadworthy test). Therefore you can have a 16 year old on P plates driving a Holden V8 or Nissan Skyline legally on the road and if he then hits your pride and joy you stand a good chance of not getting a cent from him as he has no additional insurance. Rather than your track-suited Barry equivalent driving a 1.2 Corsa with go faster stripes and bean can sticking out the rear you have Wayne driving a 1987 V8 Statesman, with slicks and dubious brakes or in this case a 19 year old and his WRX:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,,25615668-2682,00.html

Another issue is driving whilst under the influence of alcohol. In the UK if you do so, you are a baby killing social outcast. Here it is the norm. In the city it's common and in the country compulsory to drink and drive. It does not have the same stigma here and being caught drink driving is an inconvenience to some people and no more.

The infrastructure here is not as refined as in the UK. Traffic furniture is generally not as forgiving and there is not the same amount of effort to make the roads as crash friendly as possible. If you come a cropper then you stand a good chance of hitting something very solid, such as (in SA) a stobie pole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stobie_pole), which is designed specifically to make the breakers job easier by dissecting cars with ease or a gum tree, with roots that allow it to defy physics. if in the country you will enter a ravine or roll through bush (fnar fnar) and never be found again. Crash barriers are few and far between, unless you take into account the trees and stobies previously mentioned, which do a great job at stopping a motor vehicle in the fastest possible time.

The authorities here believe that enforcement is the answer as Fox quickly found out. There are none of the brightly coloured vans with signs plastered over them, the speed camera vehicles here are unmarked saloons and the sign warning you that a camera is present will be placed a few hundred metres past the camera car, so at least you know to expect the letter. I don't have a problem with them, if you choose to go over the limit then deal with the consequences. However, if they dealt with the problem of young inexperienced drivers at the source by limiting their access to high performance cars then this would go a long way to reducing the casualties on the roads.
 
[TW]Fox;14614528 said:
I also hired from Wicked Campers :(
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I bet this was one of your worst decisions... did you end up with a clpped out Mitsubishi that had something like "Eat **** and die" spray painted on it?
 
MrLOL said:
Not the XR8 ?
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XR8 and the XR6 Turbo are the same price and roughly the same performance.

Felix Da Housecat said:
After the lap I wanted to take some shots around the track so I decided to walk around it all, it's a few KM's but it's well worth it.
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I took 25 minutes to do one of the laps as I stopped for Photos all the way around :)

Dorje said:
One question though, why did you and your GF go during the Aussie winter?
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She went travelling and finished up there so I went out as soon as finished my Uni commitments. This meant it was reasonably cold in the South (And freezing in the Grampian mountains) and it got dark at 5-6pm each day. Doh.
 
Mr_T said:
I bet this was one of your worst decisions... did you end up with a clpped out Mitsubishi that had something like "Eat **** and die" spray painted on it?
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Actually no I was very lucky - it had nothing really random on it at all and was probably the newest one I'd seen, early 2000's with only 70k on the clock, PAS and aircon. It was just... cruddy. My GF really wanted the 'Wicked' experience which is why we (And i suspect everyone else) went with them - however all the other companies are cheaper and, from what we saw, better. Still, its one of these things you have to say you'd tried once.
 
[TW]Fox;14616395 said:
Actually no I was very lucky - it had nothing really random on it at all and was probably the newest one I'd seen, early 2000's with only 70k on the clock, PAS and aircon. It was just... cruddy. My GF really wanted the 'Wicked' experience which is why we (And i suspect everyone else) went with them - however all the other companies are cheaper and, from what we saw, better. Still, its one of these things you have to say you'd tried once.
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You wont believe the number of great lookiing girls hire out wicked camper vans:cool:

BTW the Mitsubishi Magna and Mitsubishi 380GT were both made in Adelaide until the factory closed down last year.
Magnas are crap tin cans though.

Did you notice the Amount of Commos and Falcons with 2 Propper wheels on the front and 2 Stockies on the back?
Makes it real hard for the cops to find spot hoons:rolleyes::p

BTW your pictures didnt work for me:(
 
Good write up, reminds of the book "Down Under" by Bill Bryson...

Bill Bryson said:
In the late afternoon, I stopped at a roadhouse for petrol and coffee. I studied my book of maps and determined that I would stop for the night in Hay, a modest splat in the desert a little off the highway a couple of hours down the road. As it was the only community in a space of 200 miles, this was not a particularly taxing decision. Then, having nothing better to do, I leafed through the index and amused myself, in a very low-key way, by looking for ridiculous names, of which Australia has a respectable plenitude. I am thus able to report that the following are all real places: Wee Waa, Poowong, Burrumbuttock, Suggan Buggan, Boomahnoomoonah, Waaia, Mullumbimby, Ewylamartup, Jiggalong and the supremely satisfying Tittybong.

As I paid, the man asked me where I was headed.
"Hay," I replied, and was struck by a sudden droll thought. "And I’d better hurry. Do you know why?"
He gave me a blank look.
"Because I want to make Hay while the sun shines."
The man’s expression did not change.
"I want to make Hay while the sun shines," I repeated with a slight alteration of emphasis and a more encouraging expression.
The blank look, I realized after a moment, was probably permanent. "Aw, you won’t have any trouble with that," the man said after a minute’s considered thought. "It’ll be light for hours yet."
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My company has just started exporting over there, so there are free trips aplenty out there for me at the moment. Unfortunately I can't stand flying, how is the flight?
 
very nice write up, seems odd about the tight speed restrictions but I guess if you crash in the outback going too fast alone your going to die.

What was fuel cost like?
 
I'm not a huge fan of flying but it wasn't THAT bad. Lots of entertainment. Don't let the flight put you off, if its a free trip, go, and go now. Worry about the flight when the plane starts to take off.

Anyone know where I can get some webspace? I have a 250mb a day bandwidth allowance which seems a bit.. puny for a paid for internet account? :confused:
 
depends entirely on who you fly with

ideally you want to go wih somebody like singapore airlines or emirates.

BA / Quantas arent the best which is who i suspect they would use.
 
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