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If you want to turn right, you have to go to the left lane. Sounds confusing, doesn't it?
Welcome to Melbourne and its unique or unusual hook turn.
This traffic ruling only applies to junctions where the tram passes by.
The left lane is for motorists who want to turn right, the middle lane is for those going straight and the right lane is reserved for trams.
Apparently this system works very well and locals swear by it.
Other Aussies like my friend Eddy Tan disagrees.
"Nonsense," said Eddy who stays in Bendigo, about 200km from Melbourne.
"We have trams, too, but we do not have to adopt this silly system."
I had only planned a 3-day trip to Melbourne, so everything was rushed. I had scheduled two dinners and a lunch to catch up with some friends who had settled down in this city.
Ok, I'll admit I did not think there was much to see and do in Melbourne. All these years, it has just been Sydney for us whenever we visited our son Paul in Australia.
My last trip to Melbourne was with my wife and sons more than 15 years ago, or was it 20 years?
We were on one of those tour packages and maybe that was why Melbourne did not leave much of an impression on me.
This time I had two great guides -- my brother James, who stays in Launceston, Tasmania, and his good friend Eddy.
James booked us into Nova Stargate apartment hotel. It is centrally located in Franklin Street and very ideal if you are travelling in a group of four or more.
It is also a great bargain as the two-room apartment costs A$190 a night, and comes with a fully equipped kitchen.
Melbourne is a well planned city and you can walk to almost all the popular tourist spots in the central business district.
The Queen Victoria Market is just behind our hotel, which is ideal because we decided to walk around the city on our first day.
You can spend a whole morning in the market, starting with breakfast, and later browsing around the shops which sell just about everything.
The Malaysian presence in Melbourne is very strong. This city is very popular with students and Malaysians who come here seeking employment and business opportunities.
So it does not surprise me to see SP Setia putting up a high-rise apartment block just opposite my hotel.
And when it comes to food, it would appear that there is a Malaysian eating place in every other street corner.
And at the QV market where we were having our breakfast of koay teow soup, a kwai loh lady sitting next to us asked whether we were Malaysians.
Was our "lah" so obvious? It turned out that she is a teacher who used to work in Taylor's College in Subang Jaya and was accompanyinng her friend, a Malaysian woman from Ipoh.
That's me in the centre! How about this for a giant selfie?
Our first destination in our walkabout was Federation Square, a popular gathering place for locals.
There is a giant TV screen for showing big important games, such as the World Cup football qualifying match.
When there are no big events, you can just come here and do what the locals do -- sit back and relax in the deck chairs provided.
If you are into movies, you should visit the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
There was a special exhibition on Dreamworks Animation but we skipped that because we were not willing to pay the entrance fees.
You should also check out the Arts Centre, with its iconic "Eiffel Tower' landmark, which is situated just across the road.
I did not have the time to go in but I made a note to come back here on my next visit.
However i did find the time to slow down and enjoy a leisurely walk at Southbank where a pedestrian path hugs the Yarra River.
Here you can find artists who will do portraits of you and your family or buskers entertaining passers-by.
This is also where the Crown Casino complex is located but i just walked on by. I remember spending a lot of time there during my last visit.
You can book daytime river cruises along the Yarra River here or go for the nightime dinner cruises.
Again I made note of what I wanted to do on my next trip -- a cruise to Williamstown, the first port of Melbourne with its grand old houses and cottages.
The second day's outing was fun, at least for me -- a tram ride around the city.
I have always loved trams, from my experience with them as a young boy in Penang to my daily rides during my 15-month working stint in Hong Kong recently.
The City Circle tram is like the "hop on, hop off" tourist buses found in major cities.
There is running commentary on all the historic and major attractions along the way. And if you come across a building or place you like, just get off and explore that attraction.
You can continue the rest of the journey on the next tram that comes along. And it's free.
We had time to make only one stop this time and we chose the Docklands.
Among the boats and yachts berthed at the Melbourne City Marina was the local heritage ship, the Enterprise, which was the location for the shooting of the film The Moon and The Sun, starring Pierce Brosnan and William Hurt.
We saw camera and other filming equipment but the action was all over when we arrived there in the late evening. Just our luck.
Here at the Docklands is the Harbour Town Shopping Centre where you can get brand name products at bargain prices.
This is also the location of the Melbourne Star Observation Wheel, the city's version of the London Eye.
If you want to get a bird's eye view of the city, you can take a trip on this observation wheel, or go up the 297-meter high Eureka Tower in Southbank.
There is a third way for you to explore the city if you don't like to walk or take a tram. You can cycle.
There are stations all over the city where you can hire a bicycle for A$4.80 an hour.
After three days here, I realise that there is so much I want to see and do during my next viist. My list includes:
1. Musicals - watching shows at the Princess Theatre and Her Majesty's Theatre, plus a list of other drama and dance performances around the city.
2. Sports mania - experience the passion of Australian Open tennis at the Rod Laver Arena, cricket at the 100,000 seat Melbourne Cricket Ground or the excitement of the F1 at Albert Park.
3. State Library of Victoria -- a beautiful 19th century heritage building and Australia's oldest public library with its huge collection of books, newspapers, maps and audio-visual material covering 150 years of the state's history.
4. Museum of Chinese Australian History -- 5 floors of Chinese history from the period of the Victoria gold rush
5. Cook's Cottage -- trace the stories of explorer Captain James Cook in Australia's oldest building in Fitzroy Gardens
6. Melbourne Museum -- explore the nation's way of life in the largest museum complex in the Southern Hemisphere.
7. Rooftop Cinema -- watch a movie in an open air setting like how we used to do at New World Park in Penang
8. Wine tour -- visit some of Australia's finest vineyards at the Yarra Valley Winneries.
9. Melbourne Festival - 17 days of arts festival
10. Great Ocean Road - take a day trip by bus along 243km of the south eastern coast of Australia which includes attractions such as The Twelve Apostles.
Oh yes, I must not forget to include the most important item in my list -- find out which other old friends are staying in Melbourne. And visit them. That was my main reason for visiting Melbourne in the first place.