Colson Track

As far as I am aware travel on the Colson track requires permits for it's Northern section which are rarely , if ever, issued
Try CLC Alice Springs
Ross Nielsen

Yes, pretty sure most stuff I've seen advise no permits are issued to drive Colson.
That said there's a lot of it not on aboriginal land, and plenty of people cross it or do small lower sections to get to / from other drives up there.
Maybe ask Joel Fleming when getting Hay River permits (for your other trip).
He should know.

The Colson was a fairly easy drive as it runs between the dunes generally, but was very overgrown some years ago in the northern to middle section, so some bush bashing was needed.

Recently the track was in such good condition that it was driven in 2wd , its dead straight and flat for most of the way south from camp 5 .

There are however very few places to camp , we drove that whole bit from 4pm to 8pm at night before a place to put up a tent was found.

Cookie,

we've passed that way a couple of times. As others have said its a doddle. The track runs along the swale, occassionally crossing a low dune into the next swale. Lots of camels that stupidly run along in front of you for kilometers instead of veering off over a dune to the right or left.

There are unlimited places to camp provided you don't mind unfurling the swag on flat red sand between clumps of spinifex. From the tops of the dunes you can see hundreds of dunes peeling off into the distance.

There is one place on the northern end where the track passes through a panel in a fence. The first time we missed this, and with early GPS mapping gear we travelled for some distance before we realised our mistake.

I have been able to spot the Colson from the air (with the assistance of GPS). It makes you realise how remote this track really is.

From Alice to the French line is about a day of driving.

I lost an outbacker multi tap whip from the trailer in 2001. Keep an eye out for it if you can please.

Bob

Bob