Gday all :-) Hoping to meet some local to my area folks - pyrenees ranges, st arnaud, kara kara, bealiba area - especially ones that won't give me TOO much stick for my little rav... I promise I'll upgrade soon as I can!!!
Newbie here - new to forum, and 4wding... well, not quite. 4wding is a bit of a stretch, as the closest thing to a 4wd I could afford at the time was, embarrassingly, a 1st gen RAV4 
Until recently, I've never been into 4x4, though I've been camping and roadtripping all my life. The only examples I'd had of 4wding were idiots, drunken, getting bogged on purpose right in their campsites, kids getting into really dangerous positions under the bogged cars, you get the picture. I've always been a tarmac type person, raced karts as a kid, love my road-racers (particularly strokers) and Holden v8s, especially kingswoods.
...but after becoming a single parent, and desperate to get rid of my lemon vs wagon, I was determined to buy something that would be half-okay for roadtripping, exploring some of the bush tracks, camping, fishing, and basically giving the kids the best childhood possible. I really wanted a GQ trolly (used to have a GQ ute for a while and it was tough around the farm), or an 80 series, or even a little vitara (at least they have low range), but the rav4 was all I could find. I get a bit of stick around town, but, hey. I call her the Tardis, because she's my little blue box (Doctor Who). She's so far been okay, takes us around the local easy-medium grade tracks in the St Arnaud ranges, though I'm not silly enough to try it in the wet. Bought her for $1600, by the time I put on ATs, and got her to rwc/rego she owed me $3500. That was a year ago. Since then, I've put a towbar on her, cross bars on her with a roof pod (sleeping gear and fishing tackle), made a fishing rod holder for the cross bars, and knocked up a rough (1st prototype from scraps in the shed) set of shelves for the boot to store esky/bbq/straps/table/chairs, etc. The swag or the tent fit nicely up on the roof with the pod, though I'm trying to pick up a roof rack to get rid of the pod. I'm having some side steps made to match the Hilux rear steps I've picked up, and hoping to fit those over the next few months, also hoping to have my guy make an extension on my towbar to add swivels so I can add a swing out jerry can holder each side for longer trips (it's sad but with such a small car I have to make use of all exterior mods as I can). I've just replaced the rear shocks, and replaced the radiator last year. Hoping that with my new job that I'll be able to add on an awning and roof top tent for weekenders and road trips, and I've just purchased a new coleman instant up 8p tent for longer stays. Adding a spare wheel mount bike carrier for the kidlets' new bikes very soon too. Hoping to upgrade to a GQ or GU trolly in a year or two, if all goes well!!! At least I can market it to backpackers with some of the bespoke mods... and the rest of the goods (RTT, roof rack, awning) I can switch over to the new beast.
Despite being gutless, the Tardis has not done too badly - only been bogged once, and that was my own stupid fault. There is a marked difference around the farm and around the bush tracks both from my older cars, and since changing to the ATs. She's definitely serving her purpose, taking us camping, being reliable, sort-of economical... Just wish people would stop laughing at me LOL Put a GQ in front of me and I wouldn't even look back!
In this journey with the rav, I've stumbled across the 4wd action dvds, and become slightly, well, heavily addicted! Really changed my mind after the drop-kick 4wders I'd seen in the past, and I'm more keen than ever before to get a decent beast, and really get out there, learning low-range stuff, and getting on the kind of tracks I'd never expected I'd want to know about before. Keep it coming guys!!! Would love to see some more Vic action - come up Kara Kara or Pyrenees and drop in for a beer at mine! And some Big & Little Desert action would be awesome :-) The feature on the Portland sand dunes in the mag was cool - would you believe my dad took us up those in the Nissan Bluebird Station Wagon when we were kiddies? Not very successfully, might I add, but we had fun!
Here's the Tardis:
This is at Kooyora State Park last weekend, camping at Melville Caves. Don't laugh at my shelves, they are only a quick knock up with scraps from the shed to test the layout!
This is down at Lake Learmonth having a picnic with the kidlets
And aaaaages ago, after climbing up to the top of the St Arnaud ranges to the Stuart Mill fire tower
She's not much, but she's better than ... well, she's a start in the right direction anyhoo!