I'm not a lot more experienced than you. My regular club is busier than yours, but suburban so actual outlandings are not a good option. We do have a very good relationships with a sister club where we go for cross-country flying. However we still always train our students locally to be prepared for an outlanding as you can always make a mistake with the conditions.

In terms of training/preparation, you can still do a lot within gliding range of your club. You can get trained in outlandings, even if just by judicious use of areas of your airfield you don't normally land on. You can also set yourself mini-tasks that fly around the airfield in a triangle or box with the airfield in the middle. You'll still get the experience of trying to go a distance without just sitting in a thermal once you find it.