Don’t upgrade out the wildness

I WRITE to share my concerns about the track upgrades in our national parks and reserves, particularly the Cape Hauy and Cape Raoul tracks on the Tasman Peninsula, the Wineglass Bay/Lookout, the Fleurieu Peninsula/Hazards Beach tracks at Freycinet National Park, and the Organ Pipes track on kunanyi/Mt Wellington. Many of my walking colleagues share my concerns about the “upgrades” to these day walk tracks. Whilst applauding the extremely high standard of workmanship on all these tracks, I’m concerned the essential wildness has been obliterated (or sanitised/homogenised/gentrified) to the detriment of the character of these areas. Some of the tracks were, in places, rough and awkward to negotiate, however they represented the essence of Tasmania and were unique in their unmanicured naturalness and, as far as I can find out, there have been no serious accidents resulting.

A sad loss on the Cape Raoul track results from the re-routing of the track which now mostly bypasses the cloud forest on the flanks of Mt Raoul — a real shame because this forest, coupled with the three other vegetation communities, made it unique for a coastal walk. It’s easy to find well-manicured walking tracks all over the world, many similar and uninspiring. Few I’ve walked match Tasmania’s unique character, and that’s a real shame, in that we are destroying the essence that makes Tasmania unique.

Ridiculously dangerous

READER Jan Dicker is absolutely correct about the East Derwent Highway (“Too fast, too dangerous,” Letters, August 14). I have raised this issue with Department of State Growth officers directly and via email on three separate occasions. I received a response from the department that “someone would contact me to discuss”. Of course that never happened. Merging at 100km as traffic enters the highway (heading south at Geilston Bay) is ridiculously dangerous. Not to mention the cars that pull out from the retirement village into 100k traffic and those who, despite the signage, turn south from the retirement village. This needs fixing now. town was completely overwhelmed by the hordes. Ketchikan town centre is given over to garish souvenir shops and bizarrely, over the top glittering jewellery shops. The footpaths are crowded and jostling. The character of the place submerged. We Hobart residents who value our way of life should be very careful about what we wish for when it comes to cruise ships.

Green domination

HERE we go again, the Green-dominated city council making another decision on the run. One of their so-called concerns was that a road would endanger the eucalyptus tenuiramis, next they will be worried about the worms. The anti-this, antithat and anti-everything group are once again holding back sensible and progressive decisions to help Hobart keep up with the times. Hobartians will have their chance to get rid of this mob when council elections are held. Let’s vote them out and let them sail off into the wilderness.

Each day 2438 visitors

READER Ian Thurstans questions some of the data underpinning the MWCC’s business case (Letters, August 21), Here is another example: the MWCC website says the business would inject $89,000,000 into the state economy every year, ie. $243,835 every day of the year. If each person spends $100 ($400 for a family of four) on the cable car and at the pinnacle centre, MWCC will need 2438 customers each and every day, rain, hail, wind, cloud, snow or shine. Where will they all park?