Has anyone driven in Australia?

cheechm

cheechm

cheechm

Associate
Joined
16 Jan 2008
Posts
2,350
I'm travelling there for 6 weeks and intend to do a bit of driving. Has anyone driven over there and got any tips or hints?

I'm trying to find a good website that will cover differences but can't seem to find one. Mainly worried about different signs and rules (like the Americans' right turn on red (but only in some states)).
 
I did about 5000 miles over the space of 8 weeks this time 5 years ago.

It's totally easy and absolutely fine, with two main exceptions:

a) They absolutely HATE speeding. Don't do it. I got pulled over for doing 7mph over the (low) speed limit on a straight road in the middle of absolutely nowhere by an unmarked cop car driving the other way.

b) Outside of cities it's advised not to drive after dark becuase of the risk of hitting animals etc. We saw a LOT of smashed 'roo's by the side of the road.

Other than that its absolutely fine, if you are renting a car there are very high excesses on car hire - up to $4000 in some cases. Buy insurance here from somewhere like insurance4carhire before you go and then decline the expensive excess waiver insurance they'll offer you.
 
i went to Australia for 8 weeks it ended up being 5 months, first day id got confused on a roundabout and ended up driving in the wrong lane! head on with oncomming traffic!

safe to say the police didn't like that and i spent the next 4 months in an Australian prison trying to fight my case, i was only sentenced to 11 months for dangerous driving but luckily got out after 5 month 3 days.

i would never go back! its so easy to drive on the wrong side with some of the traffic, id spent 8 years driving in the uk and transferring to there ways of driving is pretty difficult.
 
Last edited:
You don't say which part of Australia. Different parts have different styles !

Eg: I used to live in WA but it has been very "pommified" now !

(on multilane highways you were allowed to overtake on the inside but it's now frowned upon. Just read some "driving comments" on PerthNows site and you see people saying things like...If you aint overtaking then stay left. That never used to be the case)
 
[TW]Fox;26671621 said:
Outside of cities it's advised not to drive after dark becuase of the risk of hitting animals etc. We saw a LOT of smashed 'roo's by the side of the road.
Click to expand...

A mate of mine over there told me about this, apparently they like to run towards head lights.
 
Depends on area but huge fines for going over the speed limit, camera cars are unmarked and random breath tests common.

Apart from that not much difference.
 
gsxfdumb said:
i went to Australia for 8 weeks it ended up being 5 months, first day id got confused on a roundabout and ended up driving in the wrong lane!

safe to say the police didn't like that and i spent the next 4 months in an Australian prison trying to fight my case, i was only sentenced to 11 months for dangerous driving but luckily got out after 5 month 3 days.

i would never go back! its so easy to drive on the wrong side with some of the traffic, id spent 8 years driving in the uk and transferring to there ways of driving is pretty difficult.
Click to expand...

Guess they're used to having brits in jail :D
 
As has been posted, it really all depends on where in Australia you plan on driving. NSW, and Victoria are pretty hard when it comes to speeding. Fines are huge and they have no tolerance for a few k's over the limit. Also watch for double demerit points on public holidays. I think WA is a little more lenient and NT is much more relaxed. Points system here is the same as the UK (12 max).
I can only really talk about the NT....
You get 1 point for upto 15kmh over the limit and a $120 fine and 3 for 15-30kmh. Single lane highways out of town are 130kmh limit with one section near Alice Springs now being totally derestricted. I think the other states are 110kmh max.
Watch for traffic light in built up areas, you may find a green light will allow you to go straight ahead but left and right turns will have priority to pedestrian crossings. As mentioned, you can undertake legally, but drivers are advised to keep left when not overtaking (though nobody ever does). There are less than a dozen fixed speed cameras in the NT (all red light cameras) and we have no sneaky unmarked speed traps here. Police cars with radar can catch you coming from either direction. Oh and the police do love their RBTs (Random Breath Tests) and have been known to pull everyone in on a stretch of road for a breath test.

No idea how gsxfdumb managed to get put in prison for going in the wrong lane though. Must have done something pretty extraordinary to get that, or there is much more to that story. 95% of the Australian driving rules are identical to the UK. I had no issues adjusting at all.
 
[TW]Fox;26671621 said:
Other than that its absolutely fine, if you are renting a car there are very high excesses on car hire - up to $4000 in some cases. Buy insurance here from somewhere like insurance4carhire before you go and then decline the expensive excess waiver insurance they'll offer you.
Click to expand...

Nightmare - they don't cover spacevans/caravans.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for the help so far guys.
 
Brake normally for kangaroos.
Brake hard for cows.
Brake really ******* hard for camels.

Drove up from Perth along the west coast upto Broome. 1000s of troublefree miles apart from the boredom on one of those long straight roads... yawn..

If you see someone broken down in the middle of nowhere, stop and offer them a hand.
None of this driving past "They've probably got AA cover" that we do in the UK

:)
 
Another thing they are anal about is...

Stop means STOP

Point blank you WILL STOP !! .. Not keep crawling coz you can see nothing is coming, That's irrelevant . The sign says STOP you bloody well will STOP !
 
[TW]Fox;26671621 said:
a) They absolutely HATE speeding. Don't do it. I got pulled over for doing 7mph over the (low) speed limit on a straight road in the middle of absolutely nowhere by an unmarked cop car driving the other way.
Click to expand...

Further to the above... they HATE speeding.

I got caught doing 103 km/h in a 100 km/h zone and fined $160 iirc, would've been points had I had a AU license too!

Otherwise, just drive as normal and don't be too scared by the massive road trains :D
 
Lived there for a year, driving is similar to here. Roos are a problem in the early hours as it gets light have to be alert to dodge them but that's only when driving in the deep countryside.
.speeding I didn't have a problem with and I sped a lot outside on the country roads and a Lil in town the speed limits are stupidly slow.

Make sure you park on street the same direction as the flow of traffic as they will ticket you for that.
 
skyripper said:
If you see someone broken down in the middle of nowhere, stop and offer them a hand.


:)
Click to expand...

art-JOHN_JARRETT2-620x349.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom