Up until now all of the preparations, organisation and saving MIGHT have been in vain if for some reason I hadn't been successful in my VISA application - but never fear all is good. :D
I have actually had a very production day today - up at 5:30am to catch an early train to London. Upon arriving I was slightly bereft without my friend Paul who is usually there to guide me around the big'ol city, nevertheless I made it (somehow?) to Whitehall using only my nose to guide me - which I reckon is pretty good going in a place the size of London - it may only be across the bridge and along Northumberland Avenue as I soon learnt but I was still pretty sure I'd get lost on my own!
I had time to spare so I set about doing a few other important jobs like getting a statement proving I had paid for my course which I need to send across to the guys at Ulovane. On this point I now know that there are 9 of us enrolled on the one year course and that I am the only British person in a group comprised mainly of South Africans with Germans thrown in for good measure - I am really excited about meeting my fellow students!
My next job was to sort out an International Driving Permit. Just a little tip for anyone looking to get one of these - you can only get the form from a Post Office, only certain Post Offices have the forms, even fewer Post Offices can process the forms and for me this meant a round-robin trip to three separate places on three separate days just to get one bit of paper! Anyway I eventually got that all sorted out today in London and am now in possession of an IDP - another thing ticked on the list.
I suppose this is a good chance to explain a little about the driving side of things in South Africa and the implications for me on the course I'm enrolled on. As a British citizen holding a full U.K. licence with no endorsements I am entitled to drive for up to a year in South Africa without any special dispensation. So I could hire a vehicle, be insured on someone else's car, buy my own vehicle even - this wouldn't be a problem and in the eyes of the law I would be fine.
HOWEVER, in order to drive a game-viewer (safari truck) with up to 12 paying guests on board in a commercial establishment I require a PDP - Professional Driver's Permit. Now guess what? Yep you guessed it, you can't apply for a PDP unless you have a SA driving licence. So for me this means that sometime in the first 6 months of my course (when the only driving I'd be doing is with other people on the course or volunteers, staff etc for which I don't require a PDP because they aren't paying guests) I need to get myself to Grahamstown, take a theory test, take a practical car test, get a SA photo-card driving licence after passing a medical and eye exam, get a provisional Cat D licence, take 6 lessons in a 7.5 tonne lorry, take another practical test in said lorry, then, FINALLY, I can apply for a PDP which is simply a case of filling in a form and making a payment. PHEW! All that just so that I can drive a Jeep or Land Rover on a reserve with paying guests on board.Mike's Driving School in Grahamstown have actually been incredibly helpful and have emailed across all this information and despite sounding like a long list of things all this should only cost me another £250 - £300 - not a bad investment in the grand scheme of things. It certainly makes sense in my mind as if I weren't to gain my PDP I would only ever be able to assist as a tracker in the passenger seat when on my placement and where's the fun in that (or more importantly the consolidating of the previous 6 months of training and preparation)?!
http://www.mikesdrivingschool.co.za/
Okay so things are really coming together and with only 26 days until I fly out I'm quite glad as the sooner I have everything sorted the sooner I can relax and enjoy it all!
And of course before all this we have Christmas - this will probably be my last post until after Christmas now so have a merry one peeps!!!
 |
| Don't we all dream of a stocking full of meat for Christmas? :D |
No comments:
Post a Comment