As you all know, Aussies drive on the left side of the road (and say that they’re in fact driving on the right side and everyone else was driving on the wrong side). The weird feeling when being in a car took me a day or two to get used to. It took me a couple of days longer to get accustomed to looking right and then left when crossing a road. Once or twice, I nearly ended up waiting at the wrong bus stop. That might be a bit annoying, but I can live with it. What annoys me most, is another effect of people driving on the wrong side, an effect that is totally unrelated to any means of transportation…
…and that is how people avoid bumping into each other by stepping aside. Pretty much everyone in Europe (well, let’s forget about the British Isles for a moment) takes a step to the right or tries to stay on the right side. Pretty much everyone here in Australia takes a step to the left. And it’s really hard to get used to that, seemingly this behaviour is somehow similar to a reflex. From this point of view, it is really not too bad that Canberra is sometimes quite devoid of people.