“I'm someone who loves driving and loves teaching people to drive,” says 33-year-oldd Wellington Madechihwe.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Wellington came to Australia as a student 11 years ago, studying nursing at the Australian Catholic University campus in North Sydney.

Upon graduating he took as job at Westmead Hospital before moving into mental health field at Bankstown and Canterbury hospitals.

“I was working with people with drug and alcohol addictions. It’s quite challenging to be in that field, but I love it and I love my job as a registered nurse,” he says.

But for Wellington, the idea of driving and teaching driving was something that just wouldn’t go away.

“Driving is something that I love, so I decided to go for a driving instructors course. I just did it just for fun, but then along the way I started to think that this would be a benefit to the community as well… my vision is to be able to support other people as well, I wanted to be able to give back to the community.”

Having visited friends in Orange and liking what he saw in the city. Wellington put the idea of relocation to his wife.

“My wife was in support and we decided to come to Orange - I just loved this environment I thought, ‘Wow! Let's go to Orange’ - so here I am.”

Finding a job at the hospital and a place to live, Wellington quickly proceeding with setting up his Kings and Queens Driving school and the response has been tremendous.

“I started advertising myself first through Instagram, just putting myself out there and then I started getting more people calling wanting some driving lessons and I started doing more and more.” 

Over the past few months Wellignton has helped more than 20 people successfully get their licences - some of them absolute beginners.

“I especially love teaching the beginners... I have three or four students who I've taken through to their licence from scratch; from telling them, ‘This is an indicator. This is a steering wheel.’ Some people think it's hard, that they are risky, but I love it… even when the cars may go zig-zag on the road and I have to say, ‘stop!’ We laugh about it, you don't have to be serious, or scare them… and now they are confident drivers,” he says.

“When I first came to Australia, I wasn't really a good driver. I got tickets for speeding and I learnt my lesson from that and I want to be a confident, safe driver on the road and be able to share my experience with other people as well.  I think it’s fulfilling and good for me, so that's how it started.”

But where did the ‘Kings and Queens’ name come from, we had to ask?

“I have always been called King everywhere I go,” laughs Wellington, who says it came from a home video rental business he started in Zimbabwe.

“I was hiring out movies and DVD, doing it out of my one bedroom home... a friend of mine came up with the name King's Video Club and then it grew and a lot of people started to know me and that name King. Now, when I go back to Zimbabwe everyone calls me King. My friends don't even know me as Wellington.” 

While busy juggling work, the driving school and a young son, Wellington says he has no regrets about following his dream to Orange.

“I'm not going to go anywhere. I'm loving Orange. It is the best place to be. I love the people and walking around and seeing people say hi and greet each other on the streets. It is something that we grew up seeing and just I love it. We have a block of land and we are planning to build a home and we'll be here to stay!”