Doing a CIR
Be careful,
The holder of a CIR does not get the privileges of the NVFR unless they meet the recency and EXPERIENCE requirements outlined in the CAOs. Just because you have the CIR you can be quite confident that you will NOT have the required experience and therefore cannot operate under the NVFR.
The NVFR gives you the basics that reduce the cost of the CIR.
Additionally if you do have the NVFR experience requirements and your CIR isnt current you are unable to operate under the NVFR.
To do the CIR test you will require 10 hours night with 5 of it flown command. Can be quite messy to achieve without holding the NVFR. Requires sufficient dual checking to be sent for 5 solo by night. The dual training required to achieve this minimises the cost advantages of skipping the NVFR.