When considering driving in Australia, there are a number of questions you should ask.
Firstly do you want to drive and is it actually a good idea to hire a car here in Australia? Secondly, if that is a good idea, what to look out for and how you can do it.
So do you want to hire a car when visiting Sydney? Thinking about Sydney, although it’s fairly large, Sydney is quite a compact city. It’s unique in the sense of there are very wide variety of things to do within the Sydney CBD, there’s all sorts of cultural and urban attractions, museums, there’s tourism icons such as the Harbour Bridge and The Sydney Opera House, things that people really want to see.
Also, it’s beautiful beaches, are one of the things that Sydney is very well-known for as well. While Sydney is a fairly compact area, there’s a wide variety of attractions and things that you probably would want to see if you come here, so that’s one thing to understand.
Secondly, public transport in Sydney. Now as a rule, it is quite a good standard. It’s far from perfect and any Sydney local will tell you that. It’s reasonably frequent, most of the major attractions are fairly accessible by public transport and it is a relatively inexpensive way for you to get around.
Some other aspects of Sydney that are fairly important is one of parking. Within the Sydney CBD and in the city itself, parking is available but it can be quite difficult. Within the CBD itself you’re really going to look at the parking stations to park your vehicle and they can get expensive. For an overnight stay, you can pay over $20 without any problems at all.
So, if you’re staying in or around the city and I’ll really recommend that you do, especially if you’re here for a short stay, it makes a lot of attractions accessible or within walking distance.
I’d recommend many people on a short stay that they would stay in the city, in which case parking could be quite expensive as well. So all those things are probably what you would be thinking about when you’re determining whether “Should I hire a car?”
I suggest that if you’re here for short stay, if just want to see some of the major attractions on a short stay, it probably isn’t worth your while to hire a car to get around. Most of these things are accessible by public transport.
One of the things about Sydney is it’s heavily reliant on tourism, all the major attractions are made accessible by public transport and those few that aren’t, it can be really worthwhile and very cost effective just to get a taxi to those locations.
So as a rule, if you’re staying less than a week, I would suggest that you probably will rely on public transport rather than getting motor vehicles.
I suggest the opposite though if you’re looking to get outside of Sydney and to start looking at rural New South Wales, country Australia, because one thing about Australia is some vast open spaces.
If you really want to get the most out of any trip to Australia, then driving can perhaps be one of the better ways to go about it.
So, there are my recommendations, if you’re staying in Sydney for a relatively short period, you probably better off using public transport. However, if you’re looking to get outside of Sydney, for a greater Australian trip, then you probably would look at hiring or driving a motor vehicle.
So if you decide to drive in Sydney, here’s some things to keep in mind.
The first one is having a drivers license in Australia. In New South Wales if you have an overseas license, you’re able to drive using that license and only that license anywhere in New South Wales. There is no need to have an Australian Drivers licence. As long you have a valid driver’s license overseas you can drive in Sydney and in New South Wales. One thing to keep in mind is that you need to keep your driver’s license on you. It is an offense in New South Wales to not have your driver’s license on you if a policeman asks you to produce it.
Some driving tips if you decide to drive in Sydney. Overall, Sydney and Australia is a very safe place to drive, it’s not as chaotic as a lot of counties, people are fairly orderly and it’s a pretty pleasant place to drive.
There are a lot of fatal motor vehicle accidents in Australia, speed is largely responsible for these, both people exceeding the speed limit and also the fact that Australia being so geographically large, means a lot of vehicles are traveling at high speeds.
The first and most obvious thing to remember is you have to drive on the left. If you’re from one of those countries that drives on the right-hand side, it’s really important that you remember that. It could be chaotic and dangerous if you don’t remember to do that. So always drive on the left, the easy way to remember is that you as the driver will be closest to the center of the road.
It’s the law in New South Wales and everywhere in Australia that you have to wear a seatbelt whenever you’re driving a motor vehicle. If you don’t wear a seatbelt, you or your passengers, then you’re likely to be fined by a police officer.
Alcohol is another one. Everyone likes to have a few drinks when they’re one vacation that’s for sure, but it can be very dangerous to operate a motor vehicle when you’re on the influence of alcohol. The legal limit for adults is .05% alcohol, .05 means if you have 3 standard drinks in the first hour, you will be over the limit and you’re not able to drive a motor vehicle.
There are very heavy penalties for people who drive motor vehicles whilst they’re under the influence of alcohol, including fines and imprisonment.
Speeding. Speed limits vary a great deal in Sydney, and as a result you really need to keep an eye out, make sure that you’re traveling within the appropriate speed limit for that area. There’s plenty of highway patrolman out there that will give you a ticket or take some sort of action against you if you speed whilst driving.
So that’s some of the things you must know when considering driving in Australia, and partoicularly, driving in Sydney.
Garry Searle has lived in Sydney, for 15 years. His podcast, The Sydney Visitor, is the free authoritative guide to experiencing the sights and sounds of Sydney Australia. To instantly hear more inside information on visiting Sydney Australia, go to
www.thesydneyvisitor.com
