Travelling Oz

Two very important considerations before you take the plunge and head off:
How competent are you at towing and reversing your caravan and are you up to date with towing and caravan etiquette?
How much experience do you have in 4 wheel driving, including, beach, bush and outback? 

Towing:

I've done a fair amount of towing in my time from small utility trailers up to car transporter trailers, so assumed I was okay, but still thought it best to put myself to the test to see how competent I was with the caravan. Went and found a deserted car park on the weekend and tried reversing and maneuvering the caravan. Everything went okay and I was confident enough that I had the necessary skills to park and maneuver the caravan anywhere.

In hindsight, I wish I had taken a specialised caravan towing course mainly as a refresher course and to get some helpful tips. Some caravan sites are so small and tight with hardly any turning space and there is nothing more embarrassing than having half the park watching you taking a second or third go at getting it right. Reversing into a site with a left turn is completely different to one with a right turn. In some parks you only have a few inches clearance either side of the caravan and as most parks are lined with trees, you always have the blind side to worry about. We managed okay and in a few places had to have a second go, but we saw some people that really struggled and took up to 6 attempts and still couldn't get it right.

Another important aspect is caravan and towing etiquette. It has been most embarrassing watching some travelers out there as they had no idea and it's no wonder you hear the horror stories about truckies loosing their cool. I would definitely recommend all newcomers take a specialised caravan towing course for their own safety.

4 Wheel Driving:

Although you can drive all around Australia on the blacktop without touching the dirt, we intend doing some 4WD stuff otherwise, why would we have bought the 4WD in the first place? This is going to be an adventure of a lifetime and with all that remote and rugged outback to explore, we're embarking on some trips that require skills and experience to survive any mishaps that crop up, and we certainly don't want to become another statistic. As you know, this is our first 4WD and although I've done a lot of bush and farm driving when we lived in Africa, I've done no actual 4WD stuff so knew I had to do a 4WD course.

After lots of research, decided on Eureka 4WD in Perth to do both a gravel and sand course. Best move we made. The guys went through all the basics, then put us through our paces and then gave us some free time to do our own thing. I used this time to deliberately get bogged and stranded and to see how far I could push the Patrol and myself.  The course was an experience in itself as the guys were so knowledgable and entertaining.

If you're planning on leaving the blacktop, these courses are a must and I can highly recommend Eureka 4WD. Not only did I learn so much about the 4WD stuff, I learn't so much more about our Patrol and it's capabilities and more importantly, my capabilities.

Good onya guys for a fun and entertaining weekend and for giving me the experience and confidence to handle what we've done so far and more importantly, the insight of when to say NO, too risky.