8 members of 4wd Qld participated in the training, 6 trip leaders from our Club, and 2 Trip Leaders from Charters Towers Club. This kicked off at our place in Townsville on the Friday evening at 6pm. Participants were issued training and reference resources for the weekend and given an overview of the activities they would be doing over the next two days. Much of this basic theory was delivered with the trainers acknowledging that all 8 trainees were experienced 4wders–so was delivered from a train the trainer perspective.

Saturday morning kicked off at 7am from Stuart Hotel carpark, with everyone on the road to Charters Towers by 715am. A quick set up of camp for the weekend around the Charters Towers Club training sheds, then everyone was required to conduct pre-departure checks on their vehicles, and also perform a tyre change.

Saturday activities included some more theory related to snatch strapping and recovery then it was out onto the Charters Towers Club tracks to test the theory, with snatch and recovery activities then over to the quarry next door for some action on the steep hills. The vehicles were separated into groups of auto/manual transmission, so that hill climb fun could begin-with everyone admitting that they learnt something.

After all the fun of the hill climb Ashley took us on the adventurous route back to the campground, which challenged some of us, with Lindsay’s 100 series deciding it didn’t need a sway bar and some quick bush mechanics needing to be performed on the track by members before we headed back to camp.

Sunday morning we were up early with pre departure checks conducted before heading out to Big Bend to tackle the sand and water crossing part of the assessment. Our sneaky trainer had placed a gold peg underneath each vehicle while we were around the campfire the nightbefore with the aim of seeing how thorough everyone was with their pre-departure checks. I believe only two participants spotted their goldpegs!

Big Bend was lots of fun with Ashley taking us on some fantastic scenic drives and also a visit to Echo Water Hole. We stopped to have lunch and complete assessment paperwork.

After lunch all participants expressed their thanks to Kym and Mitch for volunteering their time to come up to NQ and show us what is involved in 4wd Qld training courses–we left them with some Townsville themed gifts so that they won’t forget us, and they spoke of being extremely happy with the way the training weekend was conducted, and were quite impressed with the playground we have out at Big Bend.

Trip report by: Colleen A