Saturday, Aug 19, 2023 at 10:27
In the cool light of morning, I'll make some additional comments.
1. The
Woodland Campground at
Redbank Gorge is a good illustration of what a mess NT Parks has made of camping arrangements. You didn't mention this - either it was done after you were there or you were being polite. The Woodland campsites and the access road have been delineated by fence posts and wire. The access road is now very narrow, and some of the campsites are small and at 90 degrees to the narrow road. This presents major obstacles for anyone towing. We were fortunate to have one of the few drive-through sites, but even for our Karavan it was a bit tight. Other campers told us that the previous people who had booked it turned up with a larger van and gave up and left. This is a pity, as it is a nice
campground. Also worth noting is that there is a small-cell Optus tower there.
2. As you didn't visit the East MacDonnells you didn't mention the
campsite highlight of our travels through these ranges -
Trephina Gorge. Similar fencing has been done there to the spectacular Panorama
Campground, but the sites are not as tight and all are drive-through. There are also two other campgrounds at Trephina - one not for vans or trailers, and one for any form of camping with no fencing. This is at least a more flexible arrangement. Another Optus small-cell tower.
3. The new $10 p.p. p.n. camping fee seems unwarranted at
places at
places like Finke 4x4
campground, where there are absolutely no
services of any kind. There is perhaps more justification at Redbank and Trephina, where some
services are available. We paid our camping and park access fees, but didn't see a single
ranger the whole time. I suspect that Finke 4x4 is becoming more popular with the closure of
Glen Helen camping for the time being.
4. The NT does allow drone usage in some national parks and
reserves, but you need a permit (which I believe is free and fast to get), and it is only allowed in some parks and
reserves. This is better than say SA & NSW where there's a blanket ban on recreational drone usage in national parks. However it's not obvious which NT ones it is permitted in. It's not immediately obvious from the website - you have to download a PDF and examine the list carefully. Some parks like Watarrka have signs clearly indication where you can and can't fly a drone, but there are absolutely no signs at Gosse
Bluff - you'd have had to have done an archaeological dig on the NT Govt website to know this. Quite a few parks are off limits to drone flying for "cultural reasons", which strikes me as odd, as unlike certain areas at Uluru and
Kata Tjuta, there is no ban on photography from ground level or lookouts, and I can't see how drone imagery is all that different.
FollowupID:
924316