Driving in Australia is like a mirror image of driving in the US. You drive on the left side of the road, and the driver's side of the car is the right side (i.e., the steering wheel is on the right). So left turns are like right turns in the US and right turns are like left turns in the US. And when you have more than one travel lane, the right lane is the passing lane.
As you might expect, this leads people who are used to driving on the right to do certain things backwards. Although I took the above photo while sitting behind the wheel of our rental car, I actually haven't tried driving yet. Doing things backwards might just be a bit annoying in other circumstances, but it's pretty dangerous when driving.
When I tried driving in England (another left-driving country) some time ago, I found that I tended to forget about the whole opposite side thing if there weren't any other cars around and I would instinctively drift to the right. I did not hit anyone, but this has led me to let Brigette do all our driving so far given her more recent experience with left-side driving (here).
The change has definitely taken some getting used-to. I have gone to the passenger side of the car several times now, only to find myself on the driver's side. And it has been funny to watch Brigette flip the windshield wipers on when she means to signal a turn -- those respective controls are also on the opposite side of the steering wheel.
The problems manifest themselves when you're walking around as well. You do not realize this, but when you step off a curb you instinctively look left because that is the direction of oncoming traffic in the closest lane. You may think you always look right also, but you don't. I can tell you that for certain because I thought I always looked right also and I consider myself a very careful pedestrian, but a few times I almost walked in front of oncoming vehicles. The most embarrassing one was at the airport right after I got off the plane. I nearly got hit by a bus (though the bus driver was being pretty aggressive). This is such a problem for foreign tourists here that the government has painted signs at crosswalks that say "LOOK RIGHT."
But the worst seems to be when approaching intersections in the car. I instinctively expect Brigette to turn onto the closest lane when we are making a right and to cross over to the far lane when we are making a left. This is my biggest fear when driving -- finding myself going the wrong way down a street because I made a US left (or right) instead of an Australian left (or right). It is going to take constant attention when driving for some time to overcome this pitfall.
But I have been riding my bike on the roads a bit over the last few days and after some time in the car it is starting to feel more natural, so I think I am ready to try driving. Wish me luck!
And by the way, Brigette has been doing a great job despite my back-seat driving and occasional freak outs.
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