An Adventure All Unto Itself
Editted and revised on 28-Jan-03
I turned where the guy told me to and took the exits he told me to and kept driving until I saw Ann St. Only I never did. By the looks of the map that they let me have, I should have hit Ann St. soon after the road turned away from the river. Only I never saw it. I drove for about 20 more minutes and decided I needed to pull over and find where I was. There was a nice big map-book in the car, so I figured that people get lost enough that they invested in one of these, so I couldn't be doing too bad. I found out where I was and then tried to retrace where I took the wrong turn or where I missed the turn. I couldn't find Ann St. So I decided to do it backwards from the hotel. Ann St. back up to where it hits the road ... wait a minute ... Ann St. is not Ann St. where it hits the road I was on ... it was called something else. While the guy who was helping me at the airport was pointing to Ann St., he never said Ann St; He just pointed, so he knew it changed names. He didn't give me wrong instructions, just incomplete, bad ones. Bastard! I looked at the map and thought I needed to go back the way I had just come. I paid particular attention to the fact that I would be crossing another highway. This one was not a real highway, just a state route so there were lots of lights and businesses on it. I took notice of this because these highways seem to be the only clearly marked streets. Well, finding this road was all that was on my mind to make sure I was heading the right way. I got to the highway and like an idiot (or a single minded male) I turned on it. I didn't want to, but all that was on my mind was "find highway 57 (or whatever number it was)" and so I turned once I found it, thinking my task complete. As soon as I was turning, I realized I had done it wrong, so I turned again on a side street so I could once again get my bearings. I was able to look at a map and saw that this street hit another street that had an outlet back out to the road I originally wanted to be on. Another car was behind me, and I saw that the street I was on ended in a court if I went strait instead of turning where I needed to, so I went strait so I could stop and relax some. I was much too tense and panicky at the moment. So I let them pass me and I saw that I was going to get to make a 3 point turn at the end of this street. My panic went away replaced by determination. I was going to make my first U-Turn in Australia :) I know it sounds silly, but I was looking forward to this pseudo-challenge. I did the U-Turn just fine and then turned on the side street I needed to and pulled up to the end of the road that hit the main road I wanted to be on. I was sitting at the intersection and I got a strange feeling that I had done something wrong. What could it be? I was on the right side of the road, but then I realized that it was the right side of the road, but it was not the correct side of the road. Here is how my thoughts went at that point:
"Oh shit, Oh shit, Oh shit! Okay, Okay, calm down just wait for the traffic to clear and you'll be alright. You dumbass! What were you thinking? Wait a minute, that car wants to turn here. There are three people in the car and they are looking at me like I'm on crack. Just give them a helpless expression."
I waited for the traffic to clear and then I turned and went back the way I was supposed to be going and on the right (as in correct) side of the road. Now that I have had time to reflect, maybe they weren't looking at me like I was on Crack. If what I heard form everyone was correct, maybe they were looking at me like I was a native Queenslander. No ... it definitely was the "you're on crack!" look.
I drove down the road to where the map said I needed to turn, but there was no road there. There was however a road above me on an overpass, which I guess is where I needed to be. So instead of using the 4WD capabilities on my rental, and going through fences and bushes and what appeared to be a creek, I decided to drive around to get to where I needed to be. It was not too bad form there to the hotel. I parked, got my bags out and they told me I could park in the garage of the neighboring hotel. I had to drive the equivalent of 8 blocks to get what was about 200 feet (60M) away because of the one way streets. I parked my rental and walked back to the hotel, glad my first day of driving was over.
I decided to take the train to go to Australia Zoo so I would not have to drive in Brisbane. I got to the train station a bit after 9:30. I asked for a ticket to Beerwah, and the person selling the tickets asked me if I was going to the zoo, and he sold me a special ticket that both got me there and into the zoo. He said that the next train wasn't until 10:30. So I guess I just missed one. I had breakfast at one of the restaurants at the station and then went down to the platform where the trains were. After I got on the train, two or three times after we took off from stations the train lurched like it had hit something. It was intermittent, and I think it did it after 3 of 5 stations that we left. After leaving the 5th station from where I got on the train, went about a half a KM and the hum of the train engine and/or the Air conditioning stopped, and then the train stopped. After discussing this with the other passengers, we think the lurching may have been the motor breaking down. The power went out in the train, so the A/C stopped, and only 4 lights were on in each car (Emergency lights I suppose). After 5 - 10 minutes, the train driver gets on the intercom and says that they train is experiencing technical difficulties. Good thing he came on, or we wouldn't have known that (sarcasm). After sitting there for about 20 minutes and hearing them try to restart the engines at least 4 times, they decided that we should try to coast backwards to the last station we had passed. Once we were back at the station everyone got out, and went to another track to get on the back-up train. We went to the transfer point and I got on one end of the train, and walked to the other end before I found a seat. Well the last car where I was sitting, the A/C was broke in there, so on the whole trip up to Beerwah (30 minutes) I was without my beloved A/C. It wasn't too bad since the temperature was only 32 for a high yesterday, so I figure at that time it couldn't have been more than 30 (86F) at the time I got on the train.
On the trip back from Australia Zoo, I missed my bus. It is maybe a 5 minute drive or a 20 minute walk (less than 2 KM) from Australia Zoo the to Beerwah Station, and I knew the last train left at 3:39, but what I didn't know is that the last bus to the station leaves at 3:15. (The zoo closes at 4:00PM, so most sane people would figure that that last bus would leave at 4:10 and the last train would leave at 4:30 or so. But I guess Queenslanders aren't that sane. The people in Melbourne said that my presumed erratic driving, because I am new to driving on the left, would go unnoticed, because they all drive like idiots in Queensland) I got out to the bus-stop at about 3:20 and waited for 10 minutes which is when I asked what time the bus comes by. Well I may have been able to make it if I ran, but I did not want to try my out-of-shape body to something like that when I was carrying stuff too. So the guy who I asked was very helpful. He said that there was another bus that was coming by that was going strait to Brisbane (It turned out to be a Greyhound Bus). I had to pay $18 Aussie to go there, but my other option was waiting for the train that came at 6:00PM. Well I got back just fine after that, but I'm not impressed with Brisbane so far.
I'm off to Fraser Island today, but of course I have to brave the Brisbane streets to the freeway before I can get there. I kinda wish I was in Sydney now, if only so I didn't have to drive. I'll try to only drive on the wrong side, or as the Aussies call it, the "left" side of the road. It is fine when I'm driving strait, but when I turn, is when I have to really concentrate. It isn't so bad when there are cars in front of me. It seems to be easy to play follow the leader, but not be the leader or be a lone driver. Brisbane seems to have intersections with three streets passing through on some, which makes it more difficult for a new driver. I've seen the map of the city I'm going to (Hervy Bay) to get to Fraser Island, and it looks like nice grid of 2 streets crossing at 90 degree angles. Surfer's Paradise looks similar in configuration, so I should be okay there too. I'm just glad to be going out of Brisbane where it seems like there are three levels of roads sometimes, and curves in the road for no apparent reason. I always thought San Francisco was bad, but I think Brisbane is worse. On the train that broke down on the way to Australia Zoo, one of the people I talked to said that Brisbane and San Francisco were sister cities. Well, I can believe that; I hate driving in San Francisco too.
