driving in Australia....and marsupials

We have now logged about 2000 miles on the left-hand side of the road. I think I have adapted reasonably well to this ( except I did end up on the wrong-side of the road at the Hobart airport due to lack of signage). Mostly we have been in somewhat or very sparsely populated areas with very little traffic making the driving easy. There were very few traffic lights in the areas we've been in, instead there are many roundabouts, and even major intersections have "Yield" rather than "Stop" signs.

Gas prices range from $A 1.30 to $A 1.60/liter, which I think translates to $4.20- $5.20/gallon, but we have been driving small compacts which seem to get very good mileage.

Driving with Nan and me could be very entertaining or nerve-wracking experience, depending on your perspective. Nan is constantly on the lookout for driving hazards, the most serious of course, frequently ends up being my driving techniques. When we were in the outback with long, straight, but narrow roads with no shoulders, I was frequently reminded that I was about to drive off the edge of the road (never happened), so I solved this by driving with the right wheel, smack on the center-line, which worked quite well as there was rarely any oncoming vehicle.

In the Cairns' area we encountered some very winding coastal and mountain roads, all of which were very well posted with speed limits and big yellow arrows warning of sharp curves. I was probably the slowest vehicle on the road, and took advantage of pull-outs to left frustrated Aussie drivers pass. I also greatly limited my technique of crossing over the center double-line on curves when clear visibility. I occasionally won praise for "being a good driver", and would reciprocate with praise for Nan being a "good passenger". In spite of this there were still occasional gasps and moans. ( This of course was like a walk in the park compared to drving in Costa Rica,when Nan was occasionally sobbing...well, I couldn't be behind a bus going 20 mph for hours..I don't think she will ever drive with me in Costa Rica again.)

Another issue is car insurance, which I always decline, given that it would add about $25/day to the car rental. My theory is that between my credit card insurance and my own auto insurance I will be covered. But at each rental I am swept by doubt when the rental agents informs me that I am responsible for the first $5000 in damages.

My anxiety has greatly increased since our flight attendant ( very, very nice young woman from Melbourne) told us she had recently totaled her car on the freeway when she hit a kangaroo. The previous part of the conversation was about places to go on the south coast to see marsupials. Although we have seen a few wallabies and wallaroos, and dead kangaroos, the fact that we haven't seen more animals has been a disappointment. The same flight attendant told us where to go to see lots of marsupials which when in the right areas can be done by driving slowly at dusk. Apparently these animals love to leap out of the woods onto the road to terrorize motorists. Of special danger is the wombat, which we haven't seen yet, which as far as I can tell is like a medium-size hairy pig, very low and solid, which can cause an oncoming vehicle to become airborne.

So given that seeing more marsupials has become a priority for the next few weeks, you can understand why I have been obsessing a little about whether I need additional car insurance. I wonder if you can get a rider covering marsupial-inflicted damages?