Permits.... CLC

Our last permit for WA side and NT side of the Great Central Road issued in July last year....both had validity dates...(I ma sure that it was either two weeks or one month)

Must have changed.

Hi Jeff
The quickest way is to apply on line. You must specify a start/finish date and you have a 3 day window to complete the specified track.
I am in the process for this years trip and they are now on the ball with a very quick turn around time if you nominate to receive the permits by email. When at home for lunch today, I applied for 1 lot of permits and by the time a got home from work tonight, the permits have been approved and ready to be printed off by me, with little less than a 4 hour turn around and approval time.

Cheers

Stephen

Hi Jeff

The NT side permit covered three weeks. We purchased one, specifying dates, but then were running behind time, so got another to cover the next three weeks. That gave us six weeks to take a one day journey. You must travel through this section (Kata Tjuta to WA border) within two days, and the only authorised camp site is a Docker River. A nice spot, but it had been vandalised, there was no water and nothing worked. We moved on to Warakurna.

We were travelling into WA where permits are for three days only, and as we had no certainty of time frame when we left Alice Springs to tour the MacDonnell Ranges through Uluru, i took an application form, which the tourist office a Yulara faxed to the Ngaanyatjarra Aboriginal Corporation office in Alice Springs, who faxed the permit back within 24 hours (week days only). There was a $1 fee for the faxes. We could then organise it the day before we headed to the west.

We met people who had travelled with no permit, as they were going to take the Connie Sue, but rain prevented them, so they had no choice but to travel without a permit.

Motherhen

Permits

What an authoritarian load of crap. And we blindly acquiesce to George Orwell's Big Brother syndrome. Oh dear...I can't camp there!!...I must travel the route with 2 or 3 days......What if???

Whilst I have obtained numerous permits from the CLC and other councils over the years their modus operandi is questionable. Some permits such as transit permits are easy to obtain. But why Transit Permits? What is the use thereof? Gaining entry to historical sites of significance is more difficult. I have been successful in the past, though, in 2006, after 9 weeks of negotiating and numerous phone calls, I was told verbally that the permit was in order but received it a week after we had completed the journey. Last year I was refused a permit to a certain place after 3 months of negotiations for a variety of reasons. So we requested a permit from the WA Dept of IA and received one within 24 hours to visit a remote place very close to my other intended route. It all depends what sort of mood the council staff are in, methinks and the vested interests of the council. Power corrupts!

A few years ago I got impatient with a another council, as they were stuffing around with our permit application, and took off along various outback tracks. Six months later I received a threatening letter from the Legal Dept of this particular Council stating that it had come to their attention etc etc. So I was either dobbed in, or they monitor ExplorOz Forum or they look at my website from time to time. I ignored the letter.

I have found on occasions that the office staff of Land Councils have no clue about areas other than issuing Transit Permits for Gazetted Roads.

I have never been asked to show a permit by anyone. Even when I accessed remote communities for fuel and supplies.

What if? Well its up to you. I am less inclined to bother with applying for permits these days


Cheers