We all started driving off road with little experience. The trick is to know which trips will best match up with your experience.

So, the short answer is "Not for the Easy trips" - these are trips that also can be done with a "soft roader" or AWD vehicle such as the Nissan XTrail or RAV4 types. There is a lot of experience to be built up by driving on dirt / gravel fire trails - looking out for sharp stones, gullies caused by water erosion, fallen sticks and small branches etc.

You should rapidly build up experience for correct speeds and wheel placement along with correct choice of gears or 4WD settings to use. You will get to know the capabilities of your vehicle.

You must be prepared to adjust driving habits and speed according to the varying conditions encountered - often many adjustments are needed every kilometre of track.

The lead vehicle will generally inform you of an unusual situation by UHF radio. (Some small hand held radios are available for Easy/Medium graded trips but all vehicles for "Hard" or extended trips are expected to have this equipment). 

For drivers needing some guidance, tips are given for upcoming situations.

For the Medium and Harder grades of trips, the fire trails will have rougher surfaces (larger, loose stones or water ruts and cross drains) coupled with steep climbs and/ or descents.

For these grades, we would expect your vehicle to be a bit more "serious" in the sense of good treads on the tyres, rated recovery points front and rear in case you need to be helped out of a situation (or to assist others). It is unlikely that this will be the case on our trips when the track conditions are dry but wet tracks that have clay bases can be interesting.

A Basic recovery kit with tree protector (yellow), snatch strap (white), rated shackles, gloves, snatch block and carry bag.