Left-Side Driving to Resort Town

My first New Zealand road trip was a success. I made it to Whitianga and my hostel without getting lost. I’m fairly proud of myself considering the roads were less than stellar. I don’t think they could have added any more perilous curves and turns if they tried though. The road to Whitianga seemed to be cut into the side of a mountain and curved around like a roller coaster. It was my first experience driving on the left side of the road and though it’s strange at first, I got used to it pretty quickly. However, every time I went to signal I pushed down on the windshield wipers rather than the directional because it’s on the right side of the steering wheel rather than the left. I also always went to put on my seat belt by reaching to my left when the belt is on the right. Years of driving result in automatic motions when you get behind the wheel, no matter if the wheel is on the right or the left.

Driving on the left does skew your perception a bit though. When pulling into the gas station, I pulled too close to the pump and knocked the fuel handle off. Thankfully the gas attendant took pity on me and laughed rather than yelled. When I was leaving, he even assured me that he would be there to help me on my return down from Whitianga if I needed gas again. It was a strange comment, but nice just the same. I also came too close to a road cone and flipped my left-hand mirror in when I hit it. Thank God it didn’t break off.

When they gave me a sheet to look over the car this morning and mark any previous damage (so I won’t be liable upon returning the car), I should have just made random marks all over indicating scratches that I inevitably will put on the car in the future, but I had no such foresight. I guess I’ll just have to stop hitting things. I’ve only hit one thing in all my years of driving, and now I’ve hit two things in one day while driving in New Zealand. I’ll blame it on my left-hand driving inexperience, thank you very much.

After I settled in, I decided to go for some food in town. I tried Snapper Jack’s, as I was told they have great fish and chips, but when I got there, the doors were locked. I noticed the takeaway window was open so I went in to inquire about the restaurant. The counter lady informed me the restaurant had been open this morning, but was now closed because their cook had walked out on them. Interesting, I thought. She said they’d like to open, but can’t at the moment. But then another woman appeared from the back and said she’d open the restaurant for me. I don’t know if she was the cook, who had since returned during the strange conversation I had with the counter lady, or another employee who had a handle on the basics of the fryer. Either way, I was let into the restaurant and happily sat down to a meal of fish and chips, real authentic New Zealand fare. I yelled “Thank you” on my way out and I almost wanted to add “You can lock up the restaurant again,” but didn’t.

Whitianga is a bit strange. They exude that small town, anti-big-city mentality, which really just serves to mask their jealousy. I strolled back into town around 5pm in search of an internet café. I was one of about 7 people in the whole town. It was completely deserted at 5pm on a Monday – shops closed, café tables locked inside. No wonder they hate the big cities – they have all this time to sit in their houses and grumble over what they are missing.

Whitianga is a typical beach town, akin to Montauk or Cape Cod, and there certainly wasn’t anything else around to do except enjoy the beach, but even today the sky was overcast and the wind blew the chill from the water in my direction. I decided it would be best to lay low at my hostel tonight and plan pitches for magazine articles I plan to write.