You’d think that the sweltering citizens of the Gold Coast could be forgiven for flocking in droves to the region’s many picturesque and refreshing natural swimming holes, considering that in our current era of months-long heatwaves these places are often the only ones in Queensland where you can immerse yourself in a body of water that’s not the temperature of piss.
Ah, summer in QLD.
But after the closure of the heart-shaped Killarney Glen waterhole last year, punters looking to cool off have been forced to go elsewhere to get their fix – namely Back Creek Gorge and Denham Falls in Beechmont – and it’s causing local councils a real headache.
Why? Because people have the gall to drive there, and then park their cars.
Apparently, many visitors are parking on private land, damaging fences and road markers. Up until now, illegally parked cars have copped fines, but now the exasperated Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen is threatening to up the ante. He told the Gold Coast Bulletin:
“When you get 100 people coming … and they decided to park on people’s driveways or across their access gates, that’s when it becomes a problem.“We had people parking illegally on roads and streets, destroying road markers, pulling them out of the ground so they could park illegally.“It’s been the worst examples of bad behaviour [we’ve seen].“They’re getting fined but the worst case scenario … is we go all draconian and we get a tow truck. That’s what we might have to do.”
Why is it so hard to imagine anything more sinisterly Australian than a small council deciding that the solution to a problem caused by their constituents’ attempting to enjoy exercise, community, and the wonders of their natural environment is to threaten to tow their cars?
God forbid the council try to organise a summertime bus route, or work out private car parking permits with residents, or just fucken relax for once and let people go for a bloody swim. No, let’s all just stay inside with the curtains drawn and not play music and not stay out past 1am and wait for climate change/death to claim us all. Good.
Source: Gold Coast Bulletin.
Image: Mangiwau / Getty.
