Without a doubt, one of the best things about camping and touring is the mateship that comes with it, and the willingness to lend a hand when the chips are down. It all comes down to karma – the idea that we extend help to those who need it, so that one day when it’s us that needs that help, it’ll be around. It might be as simple as lending a couple of cable ties or a 12mm socket to a bloke on the side of the track you’ve never met to help him get running again, or it could be a quick lend of the 4WD recovery gear that means the difference between being stuck for hours or getting moving again.

Off-road etiquette extends a bit further past lending a hand, and covers a set of loosely-assembled ideas that make the time you spend in the scrub as enjoyable as possible. Everyday life can wind you up big-time, and get the blood pressure topping the scales, but the trick out bush is to simply relax a bit and remember it’s all about being away from the stress of it all.

Let’s look at some examples of what off-road etiquette is, how it relates to the 4WD gear you should be carrying with you, and how to apply these rules.

WHAT GOES UP…

Let’s say you’re on a fairly tight bit of single track and you’re descending a steep hill in low-range first, just crawling down on the engine’s compression. Around a blind corner you come across another 4WD coming up the hill, chugging away in first, and there’s nowhere to pass for a bit. In this situation the 4WD heading up the hill gives way to the one heading down. It’s all a matter of gravity – it’s extremely hard to reverse up a hill, especially when the terrain is tricky or soft and you’ve got upwards of a tonne of trailer on the back. Yes, it might kill the momentum of the hillclimb, and yes you might need to back down a fair way, but it’s the easiest way out of a head-to-head situation like this. No-one wants to have to un-necessarily break out the 4×4 winch just because the person coming the other way was too selfish to let them past.

GATED COMMUNITIES

Again, a pretty simple one, but one worth repeating nonetheless. In general, leave gates how you found them when you’re out in the scrub. There’ll usually be a sign saying the same anyway, but if there’s not, and you’ve come across an open gate you’re not sure about, assess the situation. If the gate’s obviously been held open for a while – there’s dirt gathered up around the base of it, or it might even be tie-wired open – then leave it as is. Otherwise, it’s a pretty safe bet that closing the gate is the right thing to do. Think about it – open gates can let livestock out and feral animals in, but a closed gate ain’t going to do a whole lot of harm until someone comes to open it again.

Consider it as an opportunity to get the kids involved and let them stretch the legs – let ‘em out to open the gate, drive on through and have them close it behind you. That way they’re involved in what you’re doing! And if you do find yourself having to drive into the dark, that’s where a set of 4WD driving lights becomes so essential. No-one needs to have an unexpected encounter with a cow.

GOT A COPY?

Righto, this one here’s going to get 50% of people agreeing, and 50% telling us we got it wrong – the ‘rules’ for using a 4WD UHF. Straight up we’ll say that anyone trying to get you to stick too hard to a set of rigid rules out in the scrub is only going to grate on nerves, which is why this article is more about good ideas than it is about hard and fast rules. UHF CB radios are there to make communication a lot easier in the scrub, but they’re also a fantastic way to have a bit of fun during those long stretches of travelling. Who really cares if the kids jump on the microphone and have a laugh between vehicles? We’ve been in convoys – thankfully not many – where ‘improper use’ of the UHF radio really gets the blood boiling. Our theory there, is if it really bothers you that much – switch off for a bit, just tell the rest of the convoy you’re going off channel to listen to the radio.

The only proper hard and fast rules when it comes to UHF are to stay off emergency channels (5 and 31) and the transport/roadworks channel (40) unless they’re absolutely necessary. If you come across a grader or a big truck, give them a shout on channel 40 (“Got a copy there old mate in the grader?”) and wait for the okay to pass. Other than that, let the tin lids have a bit of fun – after all, kids’ll be kids, and happy young ones means happy mums and dads!

GOOD RECOVERY!

Ooooh, a big one now, because off-road etiquette applies to few things more than recoveries. You should always carry your own recovery gear, and if it’s you being recovered, then it’s your gear that gets used! Especially if it means the snatch strap gets wet or muddy – you’re the one who drove head-first into the bog hole, you’re the one who’ll need to clean your straps when you get home. And what about if you’re using someone else’s snatch strap that breaks during a recovery? Look, these things have a limited life-span, and that’s going to happen, but the right thing to do is offer to replace it. Old mate will either tell you it’s ten years old and due for replacement anyway so don’t worry about it, or he’ll be extremely happy that he won’t have to fork out to replace his brand-new strap the first time it was used. And yes, in case you’re wondering, a couple of coldies is a perfectly acceptable substitute for a replacement strap, especially if it’s dispensed around a campfire while making a life-long mate. After all, if he was good enough to drag your sorry behind out of that boghole, he probably won’t mind helping you move ya sister’s lounge…