Driving On The Other Side

Because New Zealand has really inconvenient and sometimes non-existant public transportation, my friend Colleen and I decided the best way to get around this spring break was to rent a car.

 
So we rented this beauty.

It's actually really really easy to drive on the opposite side of the road.  At first I felt like I was learning to drive for the first time again, but after only about 5 minutes it came really natural.  The first time I drove I was driving us to a water taxi so we could explore Abel Tasman Park.  The roads in New Zealand are realllly quite terrifying actually.  They're really really narrow and theres these crazy turns.  Also since NZ is mostly mountains, you will be driving up these extremely narrow and winding roads with no guardrails and a 300 foot drop off 5 inches from the side of the road!

Now that I've made you all nervous for me, it's fine because I'm used to narrow wind-y roads.  That makes me the designated mountain driver and Colleen the designated city/round-a-bout driver (I can't even figure out round-a-bouts in the states).  It's also surprisingly really easy to take turns and such.  I find that if I don't think about the fact I'm driving on the left side then I'm fine.

Since the drive I just made from skydiving in Motueka/exploring Abel Tasman Park (8 hour drive!) was just incredible, here are some pictures I took from the car.

 Yes this river is NEON BLUE. Naturally neon blue.  It's so incredible it looks fake!