26.7.14 (Sat)
Yesterday was an important day for me, as I went to sit for my local driving car test. We were only allowed to drive with our foreign car license for three months in Australia. Though I have more than 15 years of driving experiences, but I felt the pressure going for the test. In Australia, everyone drive obeying the rules. Here are some examples:
1. Drive according to the speed limit. (in Msia, no one cares about the speed limit!)
2. Obey the give way rules, especially at the roundabout. (in Msia, no one or hardly will give way to you)
3. Do not overtake vehicles anytime you like. (in Msia, ppl overtake without giving any signal)
Anyway, back to my test. Hubby and the children accompanied me to the transport department at Ipswich. Last week, hubby passed his test and he said, it was not hard at all, just have to drive with confident and do not panic.
My examiner was in his mid 30s I think and was not as chatty as the one Hubby had last week. About 5 minutes out from the centre, we came to a T junction where I could see the STOP sign from far away and had reminded myself to stop before the sign, which I did. Then, I looked left and right and there was no incoming traffic, so I went straight. Suddenly, the examiner shouted, "oh wait wait, you need to stop at the STOP sign!"
"I did."
Then, the examiner asked me to go on and we came to a intersection with GIVE WAY sign. There was traffic from both ways and I need to make a right turn. I was a bit nervous there coz the cars just kept coming. When one side was clear, the other side had cars..arhh............Finally when I could turn, suddenly a car came from the left side and I hesitated and slowed down. And again, the examiner shouted, " oh oh..just go on!"
Next thing I knew, he actually directed me back to the centre after about 10mins drive. The actual test should be about 25-30mins. And if you were asked to return to the centre before the time frame, well, most likely you failed. And yes, I failed! I was very sad and in my mind, I was asking myself, how am I going to break this news to my Hubby who was expecting me to pass the test??!! In fact, I could already imagined his reactions/responses. He was indeed disappointed with the result. I wept coz he didn't even comfort me. He later gave me a "lecture", commenting that I didn't put my 100% into the test, coz he didn't see me practicing before the test, read the rules and I was too stubborn to take advices (driving skills) from him. I somehow agreed with him.
Since I failed my test, I am not allowed to drive with my foreign license (new law implemented this year). If I want to drive, then I need to apply for learner license, (something like P license in Msia). But I can choose to resit the test and get the local driving license. So my next attempt will be on end of Aug and I need to brush up on my driving skills and ensure I can prove to the examiner that I am a confident driver.
