pootling along

I had never heard this expression so I was quite prepared to believe it was British slang acquired by the speaker when she lived in London in the 1980s. It does indeed turn out to be British English. The form pootle is a variant of an earlier (1930s) poodle, in the same way in which toodle is related to tootle.

Poodling conjures up a leisurely sauntering, an aimless strolling.  In Australian English it does not have high frequency and it seems to occur with vehicles, cars, bikes, even boats rather more than it does with people. You can pootle down the street in your car as you look for a parking spot.  More people will be inclined to pootle along than poodle along. The poodle variant is less common but it is there.   So this is an expression of  British English origin, slightly adapted in the Australian context.