Insurance might not be the most exciting part of an outback trip, but unless you’re ready to kiss your vehicle goodbye if things go wrong, it’s something you can’t ignore.

Here’s the catch: most insurers will happily cover you… until you leave the bitumen. The moment you venture onto tracks like the Canning Stock Route, recovery cover suddenly becomes as rare as an Jimny on the Canning.

Right now, I’m with NRMA. It’s fine for the usual stuff, but when my policy runs out in November, I plan to switch to Club 4x4. I don’t have personal experience with them yet, but from what I’ve read on forums and Facebook groups, they’re one of the few companies offering true off-road recovery cover — even for somewhere as remote as the CSR.

Recovery out there isn’t cheap. If you break down hundreds of kilometres from help, getting your car back can easily cost more than the car itself. Without the right cover, that “trip of a lifetime” could turn into “a lifetime of debt.”

Update:

We’ve now switched to Club 4x4, and surprisingly, the premium came out the same as NRMA — except now we have full off-road coverage plus an extra $30,000 recovery allowance.

For the peace of mind alone, that’s worth it.

One of the simplest, cheapest, and most effective things you can do to improve your off-road performance — especially on sand — is to lower your tyre pressures.

Why? Because a softer tyre spreads out, giving you a bigger footprint and more grip, you stop sinking in and start floating over.

• Dropping pressures to around 10–20 PSI (sometimes lower, depending on conditions) can make the difference between cruising along or bogging to the axles.

• Lower pressure = less digging in, which means you need less momentum to keep moving.

• Lower pressures help absorb bumps and rocks, reducing the punishment your suspension — and your teeth — have to take.

The Australian outback is full of dust — very fine red dust that gets into everything.

It’s almost impossible to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it — a bit like the Australian flies. But to give you an idea: things that are rainproof still end up with dust inside them.

After a few trips, here’s what we found that actually works:

• Bags with zippers beat boxes — unless you’re using the extremely well-sealed (and usually heavy and expensive) ones. Bags also pack easier, mold better into odd spaces, and naturally shrink down over time as food and gear get used up.

• Use silicone spray on the zippers. It won’t look pretty — dust sticks to it — but it keeps the zips moving smoothly even in the red stuff.

• Line bags with plastic garbage bags. We put a simple plastic bag inside each duffel and pack food, clothes, or other gear inside it. Fold the garbage bag closed, then zip up the outer bag. It’s a cheap, light, and surprisingly effective dust barrier — even when stored in the trailer.

The photo is from our first trip when we still used boxes — but it shows the plastic bag trick in action.

And one extra tip that doesn’t get mentioned often enough: bring hand cream. Seriously. It might not sound very manly, but that red dust sucks the moisture out of your hands faster than a vampire drains blood. After a few days, your skin will thank you.

Scroll through any 4x4 forum and you’ll quickly see the pattern: if you don’t have a winch bolted to the front of your rig, apparently you’re “not prepared.”

But here’s the thing: we’ve done thousands of km of test trips in the Jimny with trailer in tow, and I’ve never once thought, “you know what I really need? An extra 20 kg hanging off the nose and a wiring loom that can fry itself in the rain.”

Instead, we run with:

• A set of Maxtrax-style boards — light, quick, and double as a jack platform in soft sand or mud.

• A shovel — also good for digging fire pits and emergency no.2’s in the outback.

• Towing strap — if you’ve got mates nearby, you’re golden. If not… see above shovel.

 Bonus hack: We’ve even used the trailer cage door as a traction and bridging aid. Jimny weight = 1,100 kg. LandCruiser weight = 3,500 kg. Don’t try this at home, Cruiser drivers.

But What If You’re Really Stuck?

That’s when you learn the beauty of travelling light. A bogged Jimny is basically a wheelbarrow with doors. Worst case? Unhook the trailer, unload a few bags, drop tyre pressures, do some digging, and bounce out with a grin.

And yes, the “winch crowd” will argue about recovery speeds and single-vehicle self-rescue. Fair enough — but for the price of a decent winch setup, I can buy enough fuel to actually go exploring.

Winches are cool. They look tough. They impress at the Bunnings car park. But I’ll take a shovel, a set of boards, and a 10-year-old with way too much energy. Works every time.