Sorted! Now the countdown begins....

Well it's a bloody relief that I have finished all the major stuff that I needed to do before I go away. This week I have passed my Class 4 (read bigging #%$&ing truck) licence and my Class 6 (read super-cool motorcycle) full licence and now am all set. Just over a week to go now until I fly away and I only have minor stuff to do now.

I guess the next biggest dilemma to face is what to take with me. I know what should be taken when you go travelling. If someone comes to see me and says "I'm going to India what should I take with me?" I can read off verbatim a complete and minimalist packing list that would make the most ardent 'travel-lighter' proud. "Don't take more than two shirts" i'll say. "You can buy extra clothes everywhere you know" i'd quip. So why is it then, that when I am preparing for my own trip I have absolutely no ability to stick to my own advice.

I seem to have a wonderful ability to come up with thousands of exceptions for the journey that I will be embarking on that rationalise taking extra stuff.."Well i'm working in the U.K. for 3 months before I begin the main part of my travels so I need these 12 extra pairs of trousers".. or something like that. I did do a test pack the other day and was quite suprised at how little stuff I do have so I suppose it's not as bad as I thought.

So i know have one last week in order to say goodbye to various friends and family and try to think of all things that i have forgotten to do ... I'm sure all these things will come ot be in a blinding flash as soon as I step onto the plane. I'm starting to get excited now.... this week is going to fly by.....

At Home Contemplating

It seems almost unreal to me, sitting in my bedroom in Auckland, that in about a month I will be flying to the U.K. to begin my training to become an overland tour leader, a job I have dreamt about having since 2001. I know I am incredibly lucky that I have been able to pursue this dream of mine, in fact as it draws closer I get a feeling that something MUST go wrong to stop it all from happening so smoothly and easily. Although I can’t wait for the next month to pass as quickly as possible, I am sure that as the date of my departure draws closer that time will accelerate and Monday 1 October will be upon me before I know it. This time at home, however, does give me an excellent opportunity to say farewell to friends and family who I won’t be seeing for at least 18 months or so. So the most important thing that I have to do before I return is to complete my Class 4 truck licence, a task which I am somewhat nervous about. I have only had my Class 2 licence for 3 months and have basically no experience in driving trucks so I am a bit worried that I may find it hard to transition to the larger Class 4 vehicle. It doesn’t help that I can only start my truck lessons on 19 September and I hope to fly out on 1 October… if anything goes wrong I may be forced to reschedule my flight which will be a complete pain in the backside. I have then almost 3 weeks to occupy before I can start on the truck lessons, the only thing else I have planned is to have five fillings which unfortunately the dentist has told me that I must have - what fun. I suppose that I should put in more planning for what I will need to do before I leave as I am sure there are a million things that I haven’t even thought about that I will need to organise, avoid, pay for, sell or inject myself with before I fly away. Anyway this has been a rather disjointed opening post, probably suits my mood quite well and I’m not actually doing too much of great interest at the moment. I’m sure that when I start my training then some interesting posts may eventuate. Heres hoping.

Two hours to go....

Only two more hours in my undergraduate career! I had my Anthropology exam today and I think it went OK. Lots and lots of people left the exam room early and I left about 20 minutes before time. I hope I did enough to get a decent mark. It's kind of hard to tell seeing as how the lecturer hasn't handed back our last assignment. So that leaves me with only one more exam, International Relations, to do on Saturday afternoon and if I pass everything then I will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Anthropology! Nice one!

On another exciting note, I passed my Class 2 practical assessment yesterday so now I am legally allowed to drive trucks weighing less than 18 tonne upon Her Majesty's New Zealand Roads. The instructor/assessor said that I was very safe but I was a bit untidy in my gear changing, I guess that is because of having only two lessons before being assessed. I think I will definitely need more than two lessons when it comes time to do my Class 4...Three more months from now and I can start learning to drive Class 4 trucks. Of course that would be contingent upon me getting the job in the UK. Actually I will probably do my Class 4 anyway even if I don't get the job but perhaps not try to do so quickly.

Alright so I'm off for a bit of a kip... these exams can be tiring things.... no need to panic study for the last one.... maybe open a book or two on Saturday morning.....

Things get more confusing and a major step

I spent a fair amount today surfing the internet trying to figure out exactly what is required for the truck licences required for the overland driver job. The UK's system seems so wildly different to NZ's system that it may be better to try and do the licences there. The only problem is figuring out exactly which licences I need to take. And the cost!! Oh the cost!!! It looks upon initial inspection that it may cost around 3000 pounds which is about $10000 which seems to be a hell of a lot more than I've got. I guess I can cross that bridge if I come to it... they must be desperate for drivers if this is how much it costs!!

On a more positive note, I sent off my application form today after spending ages making sure it was as good as I can get it.... about the only thing I think that I am weak on is that I haven't done any travel over the last 5 years. Apart from that it is good. I think I will at least go to an interview in the UK if I am offered one and the two week interview if I can schedule it for the same trip and if they want me. Then I guess I will clarify exactly what licences are required, how much it costs and if they offer me a job figure out if I can afford to do it then. Phew!! This is going to be a bloody lot harder than I ever thought it would be.

Now I sent of my application I can't wait to hear back... I figure they will get it in a week or 10 days and I hope they are so impressed with me that they call me straight away to beg me to fly to England for an interview! I wish!! Fingers crossed... it's out of my control now.

What cost my dream?

Well I'm still breathing pretty heavily after signing myself up for an $800 course to sit the first stage of my truck driver license. That's a crap load of money for a poor student. I suppose that even if I don't succeed in obtaining my dream an ability to drive trucks is still relatively useful.

Best keep this expenditure to myself for a while. I don't think the family would quite understand why I'm doing this.

Think I might have a nice cold beer now.