Doing the restricted licence practical test in Porirua

I did this assessment after over 40,000 kilometres on a Kawasaki Z300, right before my Learner licence was due to expire after 5 years. This is not at all the right way to do this. Learners would be better off doing the recommended 120 hours of practice over 6+ months and having completed the Ride Forever Bronze course with Two Bald Bikers.

If you are confident in your knowledge of the Road Code, handling your motorcycle, and have done the Ride Forever Bronze course to iron out any bad habits (and learn good habits like head checks) - then congratulations you are ready to get your Restricted!

Practice your u-turns, like you did for the Learner practical assessment, but don't worry about getting these to the smallest possible turn. The street you will be doing a u-turn on will give you plenty of turning space.

The equipment

The equipment is unfortunately an old Uniden walky-talky tuned to channel 11. Instructions are delivered through a single wrap-around ear bud. Between the lack of noise isolation, low volume, and less-than-ideal radio connection you may find understanding instructions difficult. The poor equipment is probably the hardest part of this assessment!

The radio is also one-way, so you will not be able to communicate verbally with the instructor. You can use your left hand to tap the top of your helmet to say "I didn't understand that". Otherwise you can confirm directions by checking in your mirrors (the instructors may indicate early), indicating early, and gesturing with your left hand as to where you think you are going.

The Route

This was quite an easy route to do. You will want to drive to the conditions as you will be going through residential areas, past schools, and through Tawa's main street. The instructor will not penalise you for driving safely under the speed limit.

There are lots of roundabouts, so make sure you are familiar with the Road Code rules for roundabouts.

Tip: it is better to indicate as long as possible at roundabouts, especially before exiting, to give people as much warning as you can.

  1. Start at VTNZ Porirua, move out onto the street on Tutuira Place opposite The Warehouse and wait for the instructor.
  2. Turn left and follow the street.
  3. At the lights, take a right and then you're turning left at the next intersection onto Te Hiko Street.
  4. Follow Te Hiko Street/Takapuwahia Drive until turning right onto Hukatai Street.
  5. Turn left onto Kotuku Street and at the end of the street turn right onto Prosser Street.
  6. Turn right into Raiha Street, then right onto Broken Hill Rd.
  7. At the intersection with Kapuni Grove, find a safe place to pull over. You will be doing a u-turn on Broken Hill Rd. This is a wide industrial road, but it is busy, so you will need to wait for traffic to clear.
  8. Head back the way you came, take a right, go down the hill, and take another right onto Kenepuru Drive.
  9. Keep going down Kenepuru Drive, then Main Rd, then Middleton Road.
  10. Take a left onto Westchester Drive, then keep left to merge onto State Highway 1.
  11. Return to the VTNZ. You can enter from Titahi Bay Road, carefully drive around the queue of cars waiting to enter the building.

Link to the route on Google Maps

Screenshot of the route!

Ride safe!