I Am Officially Awesome
And I have the license to prove it.
The government of the Cook Islands has deemed me competent to drive a motorcycle. Until Saturday, I had never ridden a motorcycle or motorscooter of any sort, but it turns out to be the most convenient, economical way to get around the 32kms that comprise Rarotonga (it's one road--you can go clockwise or anticlockwise). Unfortunately, you can't drive on Rarotonga unless you get a Cook Islands drivers license. So when we arrived here, I headed down to the police station. They had finished testing on Saturday by the time we got there, but the police just told me to "drive safely" until Monday when I could sit the test. Clearly the licensing policy is very strict.
Today I sat the test, which comprised of about 200m of driving and four turns (including the turns in and out of the police station parking lot) and passed with flying colours. Or at least colours that flew enough to get what is probably the only ID picture I will ever have where you can see my bathing suit. I suspect the whole licensing thing just an easy way to suck money out of tourists, but I reckon it's the best $16 souvenir I've ever gotten.
4 comments:
Where is the picture of your license. We want to see it :)
Hey, you're officially official! Does the US recognise that as official picture ID? If not, I'd throw on your bathing suit and head on down to the California DMV as soon as you get back to keep the tradition alive.
The picture on the license, while featuring my bathing suit strings, is a really really bad picture of me (some things don't change in other countries). But maybe I'll scan in a copy when I get back to NZ. I do love that the address just says "Rau's Guest House, Rarotonga".
Now that you have a taste of wind in your hair/bugs in your teeth, are you going to leave your car in MI and just get a Vespa to drive around CA? And can I ride in the sidecar?
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