Last Tuesday was a nerve racking morning. I have not had nerves like that since I was 17 (and that was a long time ago). Tuesday morning I had to take a driving test…. something I had not done since that day way back in 1999.

Unfortunately living in Washington State there is no reciprocity to Australian Driver licenses so it means I needed to get mine to prove residency and so I can do things legally over here. It was the last of my legal paperwork that needed to be done. Thankfully they give you 12 months of arriving to do this.

Licenses are cheap in WA (that’s Washington not Western Australia) compared to QLD. $25 for 5 years, what is silly is that as no reciprocity means I have to qualify as though I was a first timer. That requires a written and a driving test. The written test was pretty easy and similar to back home (from what I remember anyway as hell that was even longer ago I got my learners). The worst part about my written test was that I had to wait almost 90 mins all up to take a test that took 5-6 mins. Wait times for licenses here are huge I’ve heard of 3+ hours :/ but that’s a whole other story.

Once you pass your written test only then can. You request a date for your driving test, at a time convenient to the testing agency (Yay for more time out of work). There are less complicated maneuvers than the test I remember but I had to take it in. my vehicle. Crap. A driving test in the truck, Damn. Situation worsens, you have to parallel park (reverse park) as part of the test. Crap+++

I can drive the truck, I love the thing. It cruises effortlessly, has good pick up but it’s hard to park. Plus it’s new so I do watch every little bit to make sure I don’t scratch it at all.

Reverse parking the truck is another matter. Half the time I did the even try as I prefer to find a spot that I can easily get in and out of and if that means walking a bit further so be it. But it was part of the test so I have no choice really. Can’t do much about that at all. I suck it up and spend most of my free time Sunday practice parking. I think to myself, yeah I can do this.

Nope! Test day comes & things start out bad when I lock the testing official out of the truck before we even start. #fail. Then I put the truck in reverse to pull out from the curb, not drive. Damn nerves. But then the dreaded park which I totally botched. Not even remotely close. I kick myself, I was pissed I would need to take more time off to do it again etc, just annoying. But he passed me! Yay!

Maybe he took pity on me, maybe he didn’t instant fail me cause its not a big deal here, either way I didn’t care! I had passed.

So now I’m a licensed driver in the state of Washington. I am a legal resident of the USA. This is kind of a dream come true. I am a little bit more American now.

But I still can’t park for shit, at least in the truck.

PS David if your reading this, yes I can sit at the big boy table now.

PPS – Managed to recover this, thanks google!