My wife's driving

Not having the car for a couple of days didn't affect our day to day life much. We had bought all the groceries for the whole week during the last weekend and it's only a 20 minute walk to work. However, we were worried about one particular thing. My wife's drive test was scheduled for Friday morning!!!

I towed the car to Chadstone Toyota on Monday. Thursday was Australia day, which was a public holiday. So, if I didn't get the car by Wednesday, my wife wouldn't be able to practice driving on Thursday and we probably wouldn't be able to go for the test on Friday. (Friday was a holiday at work, although it went out of our annual leave.) My wife has never taken the bus or the train by herself, which is the reason why this was a problem in the first place. I have to take her to the test. The VicRoads test centre we picked was about 40km away from home, as the routes there were less complex. Besides, the instructor was more familiar with the test routes there.Luckily, we got the car back on Wednesday and my wife was able to practice driving on Thursday.

On Friday, we could go for the test as we planned, and by some miracle, she passed it!!! This particular Friday was a good day for the drive test because there were less cars on the road, because many people were taking the Friday off to make it a four-day long weekend. The schools were still in holidays until 1st of February.

I would like to talk a bit about the events that led to this day.

My wife had to start the journey to obtain the Victorian driving license from taking the road rules test at VicRoads which happened in September. After passing that test in the first attempt, she applied for a learner permit which allowed her to practice driving with a full license holder on the passenger seat. If you are on a permanent resident visa, you can drive up to 6 months in Victoria with your overseas license. The 6 months is calculated from the first point of entry, which happened in October 2015 for us. By the time my wife moved here in April 2016, her 6 months were already up, so she had to get the learner permit anyways. (I had a couple of months before mine expired as I arrived in February, so I could practise driving myself.) After getting the learner permit, she took the Hazard Perception Test and passed it in the first attempt as well. This brought her closer to obtaining the Victorian license. Only thing remained was passing the drive test. (It's much easier to get the full license for people who have a overseas full license, otherwise it is a lengthy process.) Since she had not driven a car in almost 5 years, we decided to take some driving lessons first. The driving school we decided to attend was a Sri Lankan one called Learning Pedals. The instructor assigned to my wife was a female, and at the beginning she came to pick my wife up. After a couple of lessons, we had to decide where we would take the test, and we had to practice on the test routes to familiarise about the tricky spots. We could take the test at Heatherton or Burwood, but the routes were known to be a bit complex. We were hoping to take the test before my parents returned to Sri Lanka on the boxing day. So the instructor recommended that we go to Pakenham for the test because the routes were simple and it was easy to pass in one go. Since Pakenham was about 40km from our place, I had to drive her there for the lessons on Sundays. We had to take our baby girl with us as well, because she would need a feed. We left our son with my parents.

Got my Victorian driving license

Permanent residents who have an overseas driving license are allowed to drive with their overseas driving license up to 6 months from the time the visa is granted or the first entry to Australia, whichever comes later. At least, this is the rule in Victoria. After that, they have to have a Victorian driving license to drive on the road. Since my first entry to Australia was in October 2015, I had to get my Victorian license before April of 2016.

Note: There was a some confusion as to which date is considered as the first entry to Australia. This is because, in October, I arrived as a temporary visitor, although I used the same visa. In February 2016, I arrived as a migrant. This distinction was only applicable to the immigration at the airport, but for VicRoads, October was my first entry to Australia, and it had to be 6 months from then.

The first step in obtaining the Victorian driving license is to pass the learner permit test and the hazard perception test. They are the same tests you have to take to get your probationary license (one that allows you to drive with someone who has a full license, if you are beginning from the scratch). These tests have to be taken at a VicRoads (that's the governing body for licensing and registration) centre and are computer based.

But first, you have to have a client account at VicRoads. For that, you need to take documents that can prove that you reside in Victoria. This could be a hassle for someone who just moved in, as he does not have a bank statement or a utility bill sent to his current address, which will most likely be his friend’s or relative’s address. The easiest option is to open a bank account and apply for a debit card. If you get the debit card, the letter the card comes in is enough to certify your address as the debit card is always posted to your residential address. I had opened a bank account with Westpac when I was in Japan (yes you can do that, and it is called Westpac Choice for Migrants), and within few days after moving to Australia, I received my first bank statement. It stated I had zero fund, but meh! I took this to VicRoads in Broadmeadows, which was the closest centre to me, and I opened a client account. I applied for the aforementioned tests on on the same day, and I got time slots  in two days. There was a 1hr 2hr 30min gap between the two, originally, but on the test date it was possible to take them successively as there were some free slots.

The learner permit test was easy as they ask questions from the booklet (well, I did not buy it; I simply downloaded the PDF from their site for free) and there are ample mock exams on VicRoads website. Same questions seem to get asked at the test, as I had  seen the questions that  I got for my test before. Deja vu? The hazard perception test was not easy though; not that the questions were hard, but the video was of very low quality (low resolution and low bit-rate). And VicRoads does not have sample questions to practise with, although the South Australian governing body, 'my license' has some sample practice tests on their website.