Hiya. I have a provisional British driving licence and am moving to Sydney in about four weeks. I have bags of driving experience, with clutch, but sadly flunked my test last week. Does anyone know what kind of licence category I can get in New South Wales? The Australian RTA and some local driving schools are giving me conflicting advice, particularly with regard to the 50 hours logged driving that learner drivers have to do there. One says I don't have to do it as an international driver another says I do. Has anyone tried to drive over there on a provisional Brit licence and did they have any success? Can anyone recommend any possible solution?

Ta muchly

If you go to the lonely planet thorn tree, there's been some discussion on this topic. They might be able to help you if you do a search.

Hi Nicola,

When you say "Provisional Licence" do you mean a Learners Permit? In Australia you can get a Licence for purely Automatic Cars or a Manual Licence. As most Australian cars (not 4x4's) are Automatic you could try getting one of those. Also are you moving to Sydney permanently or for a finite period as this will determine how long you can drive on an International Licence? I clean swapped my Australian Licence for a British one without having to sit any kind of test - I'm surprised if they don't let you do it in reverse!
A Tip: get your Licence out in the sticks as the streets are very wide (for three-point turns) and there are no hill starts!!

Have you checked out the RTA web site at http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/hubpages/hub_overseasvisitors.html?hlid=25 ?

Hope it helps.

Cheers,

Pete

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