COMMENT: Time for leadership as balancing rocks return
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COMMENT: Build it, and they will come. And people are, again, at the balancing rocks in Wangetti after a three-week lull at the infamous site.
In the days after a four-wheel-drive veered off the Captain Cook Highway and into the Coral Sea on September 2, the stones started to disappear. But not from a king tide.
“Someone is in there either early in the morning, or at night, knocking them down and they’ve been pretty consistent with it,” Wangetti resident Duane Cash told Newsport on September 13.
“As they go up, they’re getting knocked down again. I think it's just people who have had enough of it. The site was getting worse, it was getting more dangerous. I was cringing all the time.
“But getting rid of it won’t work. It will keep popping up. Mark my words.”
He was right.
The balancing rocks are returning, slowly but surely.
They'll probably get knocked down again, but it’s obvious visitors enjoy the site. They want to stop on their way to-and-from Port Douglas. So why can’t we make it safer for them to do so?
The simple answer is no one will take responsibility for it.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and Douglas Shire Council are at loggerheads over who is responsible for the idyllic stretch of road.
Douglas Shire Mayor Julia Leu has publicly stated she’d like to make the area safer, but said it would be at the cost of TMR.
The Department say adding facilities at the site, such as a car park, would need to be funded by the local Council.
And around and around we go.
“Someone has to show some leadership and take charge,” Cash said.
“Which department is it? Don’t pass the buck. Let’s find out whose problem it is, and then they've got to do something about it.”
His view echoes many in the community who have grown tired of the debate.
There are some who believe we must take responsibility for our own actions and drive more carefully. To a certain extent, I agree. But how hard is it for TMR, or Council (or whoever) to put up a couple of signs?
It’s clear the balancing stones won't go away and motorists will continue to pull-in at the site. We also still have time to get it right.
Or as Cash points out:
“I’m not anti-rocks, I’m just anti-anyone dying.”
What’s your opinion on the 'balancing rocks' at Wangetti? Let us know in the comments below.
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