Hi, we are arriving into Cairnes airport for a short stay in Port Douglas. We were considering renting a car at the airport and doing alittle sightseeing on our own. Is this crazy, since we are not used to the driving conditions in Australia.????<BR>THanks, Deb

Hi Deb,<BR>Just my opinion, but if you're really nervous about the idea of driving here, don't do it. There are buses and cabs to get you where you're going.<BR>We've driven on the 'other side' of the road in America and Europe and it's a bit daunting at first but you get used to it really quickly. A couple of tips - when you first get the car, don't go straight out on to a busy road or the highway, try and find a nearby carpark or large fairly empty area, maybe a supermarket carpark or something. Drive around, getting used to the gearstick and indicators etc being on the other side. Once you're a bit more used to it, then hit the road, but carefully. When overseas, one of us drives, and the other is on lookout, always reminding the driver to keep right/left (in your case, left!). Most of the time you are just following the other traffic, it's when you pull back on to the road after stopping that you can instinctively pull on to the wrong side, so be careful with that.<BR>The road from Cairns to Port Douglas is one lane each way, with quite a few large roundabouts. There are sometimes large trucks on the road, try and pull over to let them past when it's safe to do so.<BR>Kay

Debusa,<BR><BR>I don't know where you're from, but I suspect the driving in your hometown is MUCH different from the traffic encountered in Australia. To put this in perspective...there are more cars in L.A. than there are in all of Australia!<BR>(and I don't want to drive in L.A. if I can help it) <BR><BR>Frankly, I think Australian and Kiwi drivers are much better than here in the U.S. You don't see the constant weaving in /out of traffic, jockeying for position, etc (or talking on a cel phone for that matter). Drivers tend to stay to the left unless overtaking (passing). And of course, there's not as much traffic as said before. About the only thing that terrifys me is the &quot;roundabouts&quot; (but I don't care for them on the US East Coast either) <BR><BR>Kay's got a good suggestion..get comfortable with the car before heading out on the open road, and you'll be right!<BR><BR>Melodie<BR>Certified Aussie Specialist

We are US tourists - do we need a special license to rent a car? Should we buy all the offered insurances? Any tips? Thanks in advance.

Our U.S. licenses were fine. I think that regular insurance is included standard with rental prices. But, if something happens to the car, you can still be responsible for up to $2000 aud or so of &quot;excess fee&quot;. We bought excess insurance so that we wouldn't have to worry about it--especially since there are so many unsealed roads in Australia. It wasn't that expensive, especially in context of the cost of the vacation, and we didn't have to worry.<BR><BR>Have fun, and remember that the driver should always be near the middle of the road--that helped us a lot. It only took us about a day to get used to it--all the controls are reversed too. The roads, even in the cities, are not very crowded.

I know, when my sis comes back to the states after living in Australia for ten year, she always is turning on the wipers when she wants to make a left turn, too funny. I think we will tough it out and try our luck at driving. Wish us luck.

Hi debusa,<BR><BR>Driving in Australia is nothing to be worried about. Its easy driving on the &quot;other&quot; side of the road, you just have to remember one thing....when you look out your drivers side window you should be looking toward the middle of the road...if you are not, make a quick adjustment!!!

MAKE sure you book ahead and get an AUTOMATIC--make a big deal that you HAVE to have one...we were supposed to get one and they delivered a manual. My husband and I both drive stick on a regular basis in the states BUT even if you are comfortable driving manual it is an added distraction to driving on the other side.<BR><BR>AND you will definitely turn on the wipers a fair share!!<BR><BR>JUST be VERY VERY careful on the road between Cairns and Port Douglas. The day we left it was closed down for several hours due to a fatal crash--which apparently is quite common...it is a curvy seashore hugging road and people go way tooo fast.<BR><BR>I say get the car...some of the places around there you might want to see are spaced out. We didn't need a car in NSW but Tassie and the Reef it made sense. <BR><BR>IF you have chartered tours in Cairns...and don't have any independent travel needs...skip the car.<BR><BR>Putting gasoline in them is about 4x what we pay...they show prices in LITRES! It is very misleading ;-)

We had a stick shift car and had no problem.<BR><BR>In the beginning I drove and my wife shift until i got used to the gear shift being on my left.<BR><BR>When I needed to shift, I depressed the clutch and said &quot;shift&quot;, whereupon my wife shifted the gear shift. It really was kind of fun. After a while , it was no problem to drive on my own.

Given the exchange rate the price of petrol is about twice what you pay in the US. It is hard to recalculate because the US does not use the Imperial Gallon, which makes it difficult as the US gallon is 4/5 of the Imperial. So in Queensland here when we are paying 86cents per litre its about 49cents US per litre.

PS so roughly there are 3.6 litres to a US gallon which means that you are paying about $1.77 per US gallon for petrol in Australia depending on what state you are in because prices differ.

THanks to all. We have decided to go with the car. I think I'll do the driving, since my hubby has never been to Australia. We will be leaving on the 16th, so are very excited. Hopefully we will have nice weather for our Reef adventure on the 19th, since we only have the one day, then off to Sydney for Easter festivities. See you all in 3 1/2 weeks, heheheheh Deb in Calif

Have a great time when you get here and spend lots on petrol, cars, gifts etc to help along the economy heaps :0)

Driving on the left isn't bad once you get used to it. Australia is a far site easier to get used to than in Ireland! The road quality on the AUS east coast is at least as good as most roads and highways in the US.<BR><BR>I agree that automatic would give you one less thing to worry about. The time to focus most is when you pull up to a light - really pay attention to which side of a divided road you turn on to! For those of us who have been driving for a long time, the hardest part is not letting instinct take over.