Even on our backpacker budget, it was worth every penny.
My partner James and I took a course with Norm and Coralie in April 2026.
We are two British backpackers who had moved to Australia to do a lap in a 4WD. Not knowing anything about 4WDing, we took the course as complete novices wanting to learn how to make the most of our car while on our trip e.g. taking the car on sand and station tracks, maintaining the vehicle, recoveries etc. We learned all that, and so much more, from our time with the Pindan team.
It was fantastic! The course perfectly balanced classroom-style learning with practical, hands on skills. Everything you learn (and more) is shared in a detailed handbook you receive at the start of the course. We’ve reached for this so many times on our trip when we’ve been in a sticky situation and have no reception in the bush! Doing this course gave us the confidence to really explore the Australian wilderness, and I urge *everyone* to do it.
Even on our backpacker budget, it was worth every penny. We have so many positive reflections, many already mentioned in previous reviews, but here are some things that stood out for us:
1. The 1-1 nature of the course: The course is catered exactly to your needs and vehicle. Norm had ensured the course paid extra attention to the challenges we might face on our lap, having travelled many of the tracks himself. We were shown how much we can do in our vehicle and what it’s capable of – a lot more than we imagined! Our Prado doesn’t have all the features that come with newer 4WDs e.g. hill descent control, rear diff lock, so N+C also showed us how to use these features in their Land Cruiser in case we ever level up our vehicle.
2. The proper outback hospitality: from muffins at our morning tea break to discussions about exciting off-road opportunities along our route, N+C were outstanding hosts who went above and beyond our expectations to make us feel welcome.
3. The pair’s passion is contagious, and our time with them has inspired us and given us the confidence to take more adventurous and challenging tracks, and plan how we can tackle even more challenging ones in the future. Our trip wouldn’t have been the same without them!
A huge thank you from James and Ella.
Ella Burton - United Kingdom