Article Comment: Great Central Road

Department of Aboriginal Affair's when I followed up on my permit

Ok, but I'm not sure what you mean by "Ngaanyatjarra paperwork." The permits required for the WA side are those provided by the WA Dept of Aboriginal Affairs, so it sounds like you are all good for them.
However you will still need permits for the very dubious pleasure of driving on the awful roads of the Northern Territory. These are obtained from the Central Land Council. A simple google search will tell you what you need.
In any event, whatever people "tell you" has far less authority to what the appropriate authorities put in writing to you. You can guarantee it's the bit in writing they'll enforce irrespective as to what you might have been "told" by however high an authority.

Cheers for getting back. I think the advice we have been receiving from some parties is due to confusion between the DAA online application and the hard copy one at http://www.ngaanyatjarra.org.au/sites/default/files/report/complete_permit_pack_0.pdf
We have done all ours through DAA and they in turn liaise with the affected communities before approving the issue of permit.
On another note our trip all came about out of a desire to experience the Nullarbor Muster at Rawlinna 15-17 April 2016 - Sounds like it will be a blast.

Ah, I see what you're doing, you're not actually leaving WA so you don't need the NT permits. As a former DAA Goldfields regional manager, I can assure you that the permits you have from DAA are all you need as long as you are transiting the area on the existing tracks. If you are doing any more than that, you will need authority from the Ng council, which takes ages and is very often declined. As a regular attendee at Ng council meetings in a past role, I frequently saw these applications declined, especially if there was no one to speak on your behalf before the traditional owners.

If you are intending to do more, requiring an Ng council permit, there is a need for significant "ground preparation" such that the TO's get to know you well and are comfortable with both you and your aims. "Wanting to have a bit of a poke about in their country because you are curious" is generally not what they would regard as sufficient grounds to grant you a permit.

Driving up the Connie Sue, Heather and Gunbarrel Hwys with permits granted by DAA in a well prepared 4WDs in company so that you are self sufficient flies beneath their radar and you would generally have no concerns unless you upset the TO's, usually for some reason relating to disrespect.

Cheers Paul,
Now that info is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. We hope to do the Anne Beadell and Hannes tracks in the future and this trip is sort of setting the groundwork.

I have the E permit issued by DAA. They said that was all I required

Cheers mate... we will only be crossing the GCR as we will be coming up from Rawlinna.
Connie Sue - GCR - Overnight Warburton - GCR - Heather Hwy - Gunbarrel Hwy through to Wiluna

G'day Richard,

How big is the equipment?
Is it independently powered?
If not, what is the current draw?
Does the equipment require any special positioning, conditions etc..?
Is it fragile?
Is it moisture proof?

Hi, the recorder looks like this



although I have mine mounted in a black case so that the flashing lights don't bother the driver.

Basic operation is that the box is mounted to your windscreen with a suction cup and pointed outside, it contains its own battery but for longer than 40 hr trip (which yours would be) it would need to be plugged into a 5v power source via a usb lead, this can be through a cigarette lighter socket with an adapter if your car doesn't already have a spare 5v usb outlet.

it uses very little power - less than 0.25A and would not present a drain on the cars battery as when you are stopped and the engine not running the internal Bgeigie battery will run the unit for up to 40hrs, if this battery runs out then it will just shut down and restart when you get going again.

I am not sure how long your trip is but my friend took it on his trip to the Cape and back over three weeks and just set it up a left it running the whole time. With the data stored on the card and downloaded by me once he got back.

Its pretty robust when in the case and it has survived corrugated roads so far, my only suggestion is to use some cord to tie it in the car in case the suction cap lets go, and try not to drop it.

The case is mostly water resistant, I have had to bring two wires outside for the charging system and ran these through the cases door seal, I would want to take it swimming but would be resistant to rain and most likely survive a short dunking, I would expect there to be too many creek crossings where you are planning to go.

I hope this answers your questions - if you decide to go ahead I would give you a call and send it out to you along with a return post pack and give you some more instructions on how to operate it and probably show you how to exchange the data cards so that would allow you to send me the data card at intervals if you are going to be away for ages.

How long is your proposed trip.

my email is runwin at gmail.com if you would like to message me.

for an article on the datalogger see - http://www.makery.info/en/2014/11/04/ils-ont-concu-safecast-le-compteur-geiger-diy-pour-fukushima/

regards Richard