Umbagong Stones. Stay or go? [With poll]

They are STEPPING STONES FFS. Use them or don’t.

Surely they could make an episode of Yes Minister out of this.

wildturkeycanoe said :

If they were to do something to prevent people from hurting themselves such as handrails, then all our pretty water parks will have to be retrofit with ugly safety devices. Look at the one in John Knight Memorial park, Lake Ginninderra, it has kids climbing all over the rocks with much more risk of falling. How about the jetties around Gungahlin, LBG and Tuggeranong? Should they all be fenced tp prevent people accessing the water in case they fall in? What about all the ponds and water quality catchments?
If they start on this example, where do they end it all?
Darn fun police!

Pretty much exactly what I said in my response on the website. John Knight Park has a large pond with three or four times the number of stepping stones – will they need to go next? Or be replaced with a bridge?

I reckon my son’s just old enough now to be able to navigate these stones – I’d better make sure I take him there to experience them before it’s too late.

I hope everyone replying here or voting takes the few minutes to go to http://timetotalk.act.gov.au/community-engagements/?engagement=stepping-stone-crossing-in-umbagong-district-park and has their say. Currently, the RA vote is 166 for keeping them, 7 against – it’d be a crying shame if apathy led to the responses direct to the government being reversed.

There’s a bridge not far away.

And no-one in their right mind would use the stones when the creek is in flood.

To be fair the bridge is about 600m away. Much more tempting to hop across a dozen or so stones than spend 15 minutes walking around.

As I understood it, the main complaint was that they were not 100% accessible by some handicapped people, and particularly when the creek was flooded.

There’s a bridge not far away.
.

As opposed to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bridge_Too_Far_(film)

Nothing wrong with them. We used to ride our bikes over them when I was along younger

Keep them, but put a non-slip surface on them, add a hand rail, and paint them yellow. And put an electric conveyer belt contraption right next to them so that disabled people can enjoy too.

wildturkeycanoe said :

How about they fix the bike path on the Molonglo opposite ADFA first so we can have back our 80 zone

Despite the 60 signs, most of Canberra still think it’s an 80 zone.
If the police sat there for a couple of days they would make the revenue to fix the bike track and some.

How about they fix the bike path on the Molonglo opposite ADFA first so we can have back our 80 zone, before scooting around the suburbs looking for other problems to fix?
If they were to do something to prevent people from hurting themselves such as handrails, then all our pretty water parks will have to be retrofit with ugly safety devices. Look at the one in John Knight Memorial park, Lake Ginninderra, it has kids climbing all over the rocks with much more risk of falling. How about the jetties around Gungahlin, LBG and Tuggeranong? Should they all be fenced tp prevent people accessing the water in case they fall in? What about all the ponds and water quality catchments?
If they start on this example, where do they end it all?
Darn fun police!

As I understood it, the main complaint was that they were not 100% accessible by some handicapped people, and particularly when the creek was flooded.

A ford seems to be a solution, accessible by all and sundry, and equally inaccessible when it floods.

If they do remove the stones, I do trust that the government will restore the creek crossing with the natural stones that were there prior to the 1990s. (I presume they kept them).

Personally I like the stones, they provide a wonderful playground for kids as they explore the murky waters of Ginninderra Ck.

Pork Hunt said :

poetix said :

Gondola

Venetian or cable car?

Back when i was barely a teen we used an upturned car roof and long branch to transverse Mill Creek in Fyshwick/Bundah not all this gondola nonsense 🙂