Hi Mark.

Regarding entering WA waters from interstate. You’ve probably noticed that the WA Government changes the border restrictions on an almost daily basis. It’s worth noting that the WA Police treat entering the state by sea, exactly the same as entering by air or road. At the moment, everyone entering WA must get a G2G pass to cross the border, including the borders at sea.

If you’re sailing through other states to get to WA waters, you will need to comply with those State’s travel restrictions as well.

Keep an eye on the official WA Government website for info on travelling into WA. https://www.wa.gov.au/government/covid-19-coronavirus

There is no change to the 3 land permit systems since I posted this in the News and Events Page.  https://kccyc.org.au/news-events/#kimberley-coast-permits-to-go-ashore-now-available-corona-virus-update

I also recently updated the permit system info in the General Information sheet in the Anchorages pages of this website.  https://kccyc.org.au/anchorage-pdf-downloads/

I believe the WA Government still designates the remote Indigenous land based populations such as Kalumburu, McGowan Island Camp and Honeymoon Bay Camp as no access areas for all non essential travellers. This may change before the dry season starts. If so, I’ll try to get it out as a news letter to all members. You can check this official website for details https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-the-premier-and-cabinet/covid-19-coronavirus-remote-aboriginal-communities-travel

Cheers,

Ross

Hi Mark, The 2 paid permit systems are purchased on line and you should get an immediate receipt and the permits emailed to you straight away. But the free permit from the Aboriginal Lands Trust is issued by the WA Government and can take about 1-2 weeks to be emailed to you. It wont be issued until you have obtained the paid permits from the 2 Aboriginal Corporations.

Cheers, Ross

Hi Ross,

I followed your recently updated the permit system info in the General Information sheet in the Anchorages pages of this website and I have had our permits rejected by AAPA.

It appears that the AAPA will NOT issue permits for any Reserve areas, and we have to apply for each individual site/anchorage, giving arrival and departure dates for each. This was the reason given to me for the permit being rejected, not that we hadn’t applied for the two Aboriginal Association Passes yet.

With over 100 sites available to sift through, it will be a very tedious process to apply, and almost impossible to plan dates due to wind, weather, tides, fuel…….repairs, maintenance….. people you meet, places you enjoy…. the list goes on. I was told that my dates could be flexible by 2 or 3 days!!!! I was hopeful that this process could be simplified, and that maybe you, or someone else, has had better success in the process of permits.

At the moment, I haven’t yet applied for the Dambimangari or Uunguu Passes as I don’t want to waste my money if the whole process becomes too difficult and we choose to head east instead of west. I would like to do the right thing and apply for the relevant permits, but time is running short to be hitting roadblocks like this. We were hopeful to depart Darwin mid April.

Has anyone been successful with applying for their AAPA Permit for 2021?

Regards, Robyn

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Liquidity II.

Hi Robyn,

Yes we applied and eventually were granted the AAPA permits for our trip Derby to Darwin starting in July. It is a tedious process and if one area/anchorage is rejected you have to reapply again. It took us around 3 weeks before the permit was issued.

They wont issue the permit unless the 2 paid permits have been organized first. Talking to Dambimangari corporation who were lovely to talk to, there seems to be a lot of disagreement between the government permit and the paid ones. In my view you do the best to estimate your travels for the government one and then follow what has been organized for the paid one. The paid one is the one directly organized with the communities of the area and I suspect that they would be reasonable if you can’t keep the dates due to weather etc. When applying for the permits they to say “estimated” dates.

More concerning is talk that even with valid permits for the King George and the Berkeley rivers that have been issued,  people will not be allowed to go ashore in these locations. I would be interested to hear what other people know about this.

Cheers Mark

The people of Wyndham and Kununurra regard the Berkley and King George as their backyard ,it will be very divisive to restrict access to locals

Partly explains why the Gremlin Box and most of the rock cairns marking the walking tracks in the KGR and Berkeley have disappeared over the last few years.

I think the Gremlin is really pissed off because someone stole his home from the Twin Falls track. Maybe its all his fault.

I was very confused in particular who provided permits for the King George River. After speaking with the contact number provided by the Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation web site, I was advised there is no paid permit required to access land at the KGR. Obviously this is for visiting vessels and not for 4WD access as do not know what that requirement is. You will still require the DPLH provided permit.

Hi Keith, I’m not surprised you are confused. There are many others not happy with the AAPA permit system as well. It is a very confusing system. It’s not well publicised, but National Parks have banned going ashore at the King George River in 2021. Apparantly due to Cultural Reasons. Therefore the AAPA are not issuing land permits this year for the King George area. Nothing stopping you sailing in there.

It will be very difficult for them to police it. I suspect many people will ignor the ban.

Cheers, Ross

Hi Keith, I’m not surprised you are confused. There are many others not happy with the AAPA permit system as well. It is a very confusing system. It’s not well publicised, but National Parks have banned going ashore at the King George River in 2021. Apparantly due to Cultural Reasons. Therefore the AAPA are not issuing land permits this year for the King George area. Nothing stopping you sailing in there.

It will be very difficult for them to police it. I suspect many people will ignor the ban.

Cheers, Ross