4wd Newbies

As complete newbies to the world of 4WD we've been slowly educating ourselves on how to... drive it, recover it, understand it, and prepare it for our big trip.
We started with a 4wd Course, and highly recommend anyone who is about to set off 'out there' to do one of these.

We've done 2 courses with P7Offroad   http://www.4x4training.com.au/  Apart from a fun day out, the confidence we gained in ourselves and our car was really important for us. Scott did most of the driving as he will be the primary driver, but I had a go too!  For me the best part was getting a feel of what the car can do without 'rolling over'. If we had gone out there and Scott started doing half the stuff we have done on these courses I would have been a nervous wreck, and he probably would come back deaf from the screaming. But now I feel quite comfortable knowing we can handle some pretty challenging situations if needed. The instruction on safe recovery techniques and the hands on experience actually doing a recovery was excellent too.

Adding 4wd upgrades to the Prado was another learning curve.  Suspension lifts, bullbars, snorkels, cargo barriers, Roof cages, and Light Truck tyres.  Then there is all the recovery gear (which we may or may not use!) Maxtrax, winches, snatch straps, billet hitch, rated chains, bow shackles, and the list goes on. It was all double dutch to me in the beginning but not anymore!  Actually it was great doing the second course with our upgrades and really feeling the difference, lessening the blow of the $$ outlay!  Anyway its all done now, we've got itchy feet and looking forward to posting some interesting stories and pic's of our 'real 4wd' experiences!