Public Training

When you head out in your 4WD, you need to have the knowledge, the experience and the confidence to handle any conditions that you encounter.

It might be a weekend away with your family, an extended outback adventure with your mates—or even just making sure your kids know how to safely handle your vehicle before you hand over the keys.

It’s not just about knowledge—it’s also about having confidence in your abilities, having practical experience and understanding what your vehicle can and can’t do in different conditions.

And even more importantly—knowing that if you do get stuck, that you have the skills, the equipment and the knowledge to get unstuck.

Our 4WDrive Training equips you to fully enjoy the astonishing capabilities of your vehicle safely.

You’ll learn:

• What a 4WDrive is and how it works
• Vehicle inspection and maintenance
• Environmental and safety issues
• Techniques to safely manoeuvre your 4WD in sand, snow, mud and water crossings
• Techniques to safely navigate ascents and descents
• Techniques to safely navigate obstacles
• Practical recovery including winching techniques
• Night driving

Our courses offer:

• An all-weather 4WDrive training facility
• Access to real bush tracks to reinforce learning in a real life environment
• 4WDrive Instructors that are dedicated 4WD enthusiasts
• Choice of nationally recognised subjects
• Excellent balance of theory and practice to ensure understanding

Click the benefits tab to see what you’ll get from our courses.

We’re Fully Accredited

We’re a Registered Training Organisation accredited by the Australian National Training Authority.

This enables us to offer nationally accredited and recognised training. So you can be confident that the skills you attain are of the highest quality and accepted and valued throughout Australia. Our training meets the industry-specific competency standards allowing for nationally consistent recognition of skills.

We provide a Statement of Attainment that is recognised within the Australian Qualifications Framework.

We’re Better Business Australian Tourism Accredited

This means you can rest assured that we’re committed to professionalism both in business operations and delivery of service. This needs to be renewed yearly and covers a range of standards such as professional customer service, accuracy in advertising, compliance with health and safety standards, and sound environmental practices.

We’re also a licensed tour operator with Parks Victoria and the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

We have the appropriate permits, skills, insurance and risk management procedures to use public land for your training—so we can legally use the state forest to help you gain valuable experience on real bush tracks across a variety of terrain.

Quality of Training

Between us, we have over 120 years of 4WDriving experience.

All our instructors are active and experienced 4WD enthusiasts who spend much of their recreational time 4WDriving—so you’re assured of instruction that is up to date and very practical.

We use the most advanced form of teaching (generative learning) while still maintaining an enjoyable environment with a relaxed, holiday atmosphere.

We provide:

• Ongoing advice such as pre-departure, vehicle/equipment purchase, vehicle setup
• Appropriate individual tuition
• Theory & prac spread over 2 days to ensure you can apply what you have learnt out in the field
• Small classes; maximum 8 participants
• Ratio of 1:4 instructors to participants
• Training on natural bush tracks in various states or repair; the kind you will find when you go out there on your own
• Night drive – you may have to drive at night regardless of your intentions; participants have told us our night driving aspect was invaluable when driving in smoke in the 2009 bushfires, though at the time they never intended to drive at night.
• 126 page handbook (RRP $35) to take home and look at your own leisure

We’re Family Friendly and have Excellent Facilities

You can bring your kids to our public training! We have free camping and great facilities, including:

• Delightful tree-lined camping facilities for tents, camper trailers and caravans
• Toilets, hot/cold showers, BBQ and campfire
• Provision of morning & afternoon tea
• Catering available for meals
• Tea & coffee, fruit, biscuits and fruit juice freely available
• Tokens for a local Car Wash to clean vehicles upon course completion (Narbethong only)
• Air Compressor to reinflate tyres after 4WDriving

Other Benefits

Effective training will save you money:

• Some insurance companies acknowledge the qualification and will lower your cover
• Savings due to reduced maintenance/repair costs
• Self-education may be tax deductible

We’re environmentally friendly—there’s a tree planted for every participant to help offset our carbon footprint (trees labelled in training areas)

Our courses are developed with both industry and community under the nationally agreed AQF (Australian Qualifications Framework) and are called NRT (Nationally Recognised Training). Each qualification is based on the level of outcome and not on the length of the course.

PNL 4WDriving is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO #20810) through ASQA (Australian Skills and Qualifications Authority). ASQA administer us and other TAFEs, Universities and Training Providers. That allows us to issue Nationally Recognised qualifications.

So after the successful completion of the course participants will be issued with a Statement of Attainment that is recognised Australia wide covering all the competencies (subjects) you enrolled in.

In Layman’s Terms: Your course and subjects are recognised by all Universities, TAFEs or Training Providers Australia wide.

Yourself (with a sense of humour): Do not forget to bring your Drivers License.

Food: PNL 4WDriving supplies morning and afternoon tea. You need to arrange your own food for meals prior to the course, as it’s not readily available in the area. Centralised BBQ facilities are available for use. Catering is available at extra expense.

Clothing: Long pants and appropriate covered footwear for outdoor activity. Cold & Wet weather clothing is advisable as the course continues rain or shine. Also bring a sun hat and sunscreen.

Accommodation: Free camping is available on site. There are hot showers, toilets, a barbeque, and a wonderful fireplace all provided. Your own tent/camper trailer/caravan with bedding is required. Local accommodation is available if you prefer.

Recovery Equipment: PNL 4WDriving supplies all recovery equipment for use on your course. Please bring any recovery equipment you have and we will check your recovery equipment for you. DO NOT go and buy equipment before your course; come and see what we have and why.

Vehicle: 4WDrive vehicle in mechanically sound and clean condition. Vehicle mounted winch is required for the winching unit. Maximum 2 participants per vehicle plus space for an instructor.

PNL 4WDriving has two dedicated training areas:

Narbethong (NE of Healesville): Our all weather training room is equipped with tea & coffee making facilities and a microwave. There is wonderful free camping with BBQs in the reserve directly opposite and PNL 4WDriving have eco-toilets and a hot shower available for use. We use the real world bush tracks in the adjacent Marysville State Forest to put the techniques we teach you in to practice.

Smythesdale (SW of Ballarat): PNL 4WDriving uses the Ballarat 4WDrive Club training area at Smythesdale. It is an excellent location with many 4WDrive obstacles located close to the Enfield State Park where we give you real world practical experience on tracks in the bush. Free camping on site is available with a wonderful open fire, BBQ facilities and undercover training/eating area, hot & cold showers and toilets are within cooee.

Please see the Contact page for maps to these locations.