I booked to do my Motorcycle Instructors course at the beginning of November 2010, but the course only started on the 22nd November. After doing the initial course and spending most weekends down on the Gold Coast doing ghosting (that's where you work alongside other instructors for experience required for the qualification), I finally passed my course and am now a qualified instructor with my Certificate IV in Transport & Logistics - Motorcycle Instruction.

Not quite there yet, as you then need to fill in a form and rock up at a Queensland Transport Service centre and apply for the license and be registered with the Gov.

So my training school printed out the form which I took home, filled in and went to QT on Monday 21st Feb 2011. The lady behind the counter looked at the quailifying criteria and one part said that you need to have held an actual Australian or New Zealand license for one year. So because I only swapped my UK license in September 2010 I hadn't had an AUSTRALIAN license for one year, so she turned me away.

I was completely gutted. That would mean I need to wait another 6 months before applying again. Which means I still can't train and get paid for it.

Anyway I got home that night and searched the Internet and read the latest Queensand Transport legislation requirements and it mentioned nothing of the sort. I then looked at the form and it was dated 1995. So I searched some more and found the latest PDF which didn't have that clause on it.

I printed it out, filled it in and went the next day to QT. I went to the same counter and spoke to the same woman. I explained that the QT website has the old version of the form and legislation had changed since 1995. She quite happily agreed and processed my application.

It cost $215 and she said it can take up to 6 weeks to receive. Why it takes that long I don't know.

So the light at the end of the tunnel is that if i don't pick up any I.T. contract work, I will be able to work instructing either full time or part time as my schedule dictates.

Anyone thinking it's quick and easy to change profession and quickly become a driving/riding instructor overnight is seriously mistaken.

But then if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

I really hope it pays off.

p.s. Last Sunday while I was training, one of the learners took it upon himself to speed up to a corner on the training range and couldn't make the corner so braked hard thereby locking up the front wheel and crashed the bike. He tried to put his left leg down and it got trapped under the bike and twisted it around. It became dislocated and he broke his shin.

We called for an ambo which arrived within 10 minutes and he was off to hospital. He will be out of action for ages now.

That's all for now.

Alf