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Re: You favorite country to drive in.....
I've driven in Australia, NZ, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Italy, USA, Canada, Norway... and Vanuatu.
Australia is boring for me because I live here and regularly drive a 1400km (around 900 miles) round trip on the Hume Highway in a weekend to visit my family. And although the interstate highways are often very good, the 110 Km/h speed limit on them is too slow - set more with an eye to revenue-raising than safety. And Australian drivers are not very courteous compared with anywhere else I have driven except the USA. Agree with the earlier comment about the Great Ocean Road on Victoria's southwest coast though, except on a Sunday afternoon when the traffic is heading back to Melbourne.
NZ has fantastic scenery, very low traffic density and and relatively courteous drivers. Unfortunately they have under-invested in road maintenance in recent years and I have had some alarming experiences with very poor road surfaces without warning.
I lived in England for two years - most pommies would disagree with me I know, but I found English drivers, on the whole, to be relatively well-disciplined and courteous. Face it - the place would grind to a halt otherwise!
Norway - good drivers, amazing scenery, but the speed limit is needlessly low on the good roads.
The only good thing about driving in the USA for me is the cheap fuel. I acknowledge I might feel different if I got to drive somewhere interesting, but alas I usually go there for work and drive around the Washington-Baltimore area. San Francisco was fun. Palo Alto was not. Hawaii is fun.
Vanuatu (the former New Hebrides) is pretty amazing. In colonial days it was an Anglo-French condominium and according to legend (surely not true!) the English police would fine you for driving on the right, and the French police for driving on the left. Supposedly you then took the ticket to the "other" police station to get it cancelled. Anyway, the effect now is that people drive anywhere they damn well like. It was amazing seeing Hilux utilities roaring down the streets of Port Vila with people STANDING in the back. I have attached a graphic to prove it. We hired a little Kia 4WD and drove around the main island of Efate. The road was built by US military engineers in the war and has had little done on it since. Beautiful scenery, charming people. Very memorable.
But my favourite country to drive in has to be Italy. Yes, the other drivers are crazy. Yes the road rules are of academic interest only. But the thrill of being passed by a Maserati doing 200 kph, the experience of pottering along a mountain road at 20kph stuck behind an "Ape" 2-stroke utility vehicle, the sheer terror of driving in the cities. You certainly know you are alive.
Graphic: passengers in Port Vila, Vanuatu:
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