Firstly, I'll echo the sentiments that the tower at MB is great!
Why is MB so confusing? Personally I find bankstown far worse with different arrival and departure altitudes to remember.. but then I'm based at MB, go figure
In either case, prior (or even proper) planning applies.... Get the ATIS - it tells you what runway. You can even take a decent guess from the wind direction; as noted, most of the time it's 17/35. That allows you to figure out where you're going, and what you can't taxi on - shouldn't need traffic lights to tell you where not to go!
I agree that circuits are all over the place.. personal beef is that old saw the cross country circuit.. everyone follows a bit wider until you ought to be reporting to the coldstream ctaf on the way round. I'm inclined to think part of the problem is people being incapable / otherwise untrained in flying anything other than a 'by the numbers' circuit - when it's busy you often need to speed up/slow down to fit in - there's no imperative to fly xxx knots downwind / base.
On the positive side, it *is* good training, and you will stay sharp
