Have fun but always be safe

We welcome reports of people being well behaved as they soaked up some of the region’s great attractions during the Easter break.

Having respect for each other is critical in ensuring everyone can happily visit or explore the region and-or get involved in the various festivals, carnivals and events that unfold during the long weekend.

This is the sort of activity we as regional communities celebrate and embrace.

What we far from welcome is the blatant disregard some people have for warning signs when visiting some

of our iconic tourism areas. The Grampians are a renowned tourist magnet, with estimates that 10,000 people flocked to the National Park and surrounding areas at the weekend.

Amazing sandstone ranges and wilderness areas provide safe and amazing vistas and experiences for all – as long as everyone sticks to the rules.

There are reasons for barriers and warning signs – history tells us that some of what makes our parklands so appealing can also be hazardous if, for some reason, we abandon common sense.

It was with disbelief that Wimmera observers enjoying a day in the Grampians watched as people scrambled into off-limits areas in a quest to somehow gain a better experience or photograph.

At Boroka Lookout, which provides one of the most iconic views of Halls Gap and surrounding countryside, people scrambled over barriers, venturing obliviously close to dangerous sheer drops. But it didn’t end there. At Mackenzie Falls, the site of one of nature’s great wonders, visitors took no heed of signs, again venturing beyond barriers into banned areas renowned for being hazardous and that in the recent past have claimed lives.

It simply doesn’t make sense to risk life and limb when experiences and views are just as good from behind the fence.

Emergency-service personnel are busy enough dealing with our roads to have to worry about retrieving bodies or rescuing people from their own foolishness.