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General Climbing Discussion

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Paying the Pines fees 26-Jul-2013 At 12:40:31 PM rolsen1

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On 24/07/2013 naw26 wrote:
>I'm a relative newcomer to Arapiles having only been once before and relied
>on 'word of mouth' and the 2008 Mentz + Tempest guidebook to guide me with
>the Pines payment system '$2 a night and $3 if the ranger collects'.
>
>Well d'uh you say, paying your campground fees (now risen to $4 a night)
>is important for maintaining facilities etc etc.
>
>Having not enough cash to pay for the amount of nights I'd like to (paying
>for my girlfriend too) I thought I could wait for my next trip into Horsham
>to get money out.
>
>Into Horsham on the 5th night, leave it to the morning to pay. On that
>morning, the ranger comes around and gives me a penalty notice of $180
>for not displaying a permit- despite my protestations that we were actually
>going to pay ("that's what they ALL say mate") Apparently warnings had
>been given on the past year to the climbers to pay their fees (never been
>there or heard of said warnings) and there were no signs up anywhere to
>tell us this or the payment method or consequences.
>
>So to my shock, and many other surprised faces in the campground.
>
>Has this been a well-known fact around the Pines or is it a sudden need
>of revenue on that particular day? (he didn't come around again during
>my 18 day stay). (A quick look showed a post last year of possible warnings
>but nothing concrete?) I'm more embarrassed than anything else really..
>

There probably is an appeal system if you want to go down that path. Might need to do a stat dec or write a letter to someone with the authority to wipe the fine. I done this for not having a ticket on public transport (twice), a speeding fine and failing to vote.

I've written notes before on the payment envelope explaining that I'm short because I didn't have the right change and when I planned to rectify that. Before anyone, says anything I've also put in extra when I didn't have the correct change but had close enough not to worry. Not sure if a note would work though.