Driving an hour just to get anywhere is normal in Australia. It used to be just for country drives, given the vast distances, but now it includes even driving around the cities. They are all so big these days that taking more than 1 hour just to get to work is normal.

Country holidays as a kid were always 2 hours drive away. And even driving between Melbourne and Sydney (an 8 - 10 hour drive) was quite normal. Now everyone flies, but back then driving was a way of life.

It gets even more exaggerated the further into the outback you go. The Northern Territory (which has a population of around 200,000) takes several days to drive from one end to the other, with only one main road on which to do it. That does put things into perspective.

Living in Albuquerque sounds interesting. New Mexico strikes me as similar to the ruggedness of parts of Australia.