Hey Olwen, and welcome!
I don’t have anything to add on the Navarr side of things (and it looks like Unslain has that very well covered!), but I can provide a couple of useful links.
Firstly, there is a useful character creation guide and a minimum your character would know guide, right here on the forum. Some of the fine details may have changed, but they’re both a useful starting point to get a feel for the important bits of the Wiki for you!
There is also a useful cold weather camping guide on the Wiki because April can get pretty cold. It has a lot of advice that is easy to get wrong (I was definitely guilty of putting a blanket on top of my sleeping bag!), so is worth a read.
And yes, safe to say, turning up and seeing how things go is absolutely a viable plan! Though not so much with regards to the camping bit 