Calls to close the Figure Eight Pool in the Royal National Park because its ‘Instafamous’ status is leading to deaths and injury ->
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-28/ ... s/10853854Is this an overreaction, similar to the NSW Government’s ‘war’ on Festivals over drug deaths and pill testing? Is it a nanny state solution or a sensible idea?
I grew up in Sydney and the Royal National Park was one of my favourite playgrounds. I used to joke I knew the place like the back of my hand, though I know I don’t know it that well. From the late 90s till I moved away from Sydney in the late 2000s, I did, however, spend many many days walking down from Garrawarra Farm, past Burning Palms and exploring the Palm Jungle section of the park. It is without a doubt my most favourite section of my most favourite National Park.
Knowing the area so well I of course would occasionally walk into the Figure Eight rock pool. If I ever saw anyone down there, it was usually a rock fisherman or two, but rarely other bushwalkers and never crowds. Then a couple of years ago, when I was living back in Sydney for a year, I took myself for a walk out to the area, and I could not believe how many people were down there. The Garrawarra Farm car park was chock-a-block full, clearly more than the numbers I used to see from the hut owners, and there were many groups of people as I walked down with accents from all over the world (mostly Europeans), and then when I got to the rock platform there were so many people.
- No hoards at the Figure Eight Pool around 2005ish.
- Figure 8.jpg (71.98 KiB) Viewed 29898 times
Now, of course I know the Nasho is popular, and crowds picnicking at Wattamolla are nothing new, but I was shocked at how many people had discovered the Figure Eight Pool. It was clear the location was promoted to the masses, especially back packers. Nearby a precarious track that wound up the cliff from the pools into a nearby gully was being heavily used, causing new erosion. I think there have been several accidents here with people taking the short cut, including several cases of spinal injuries.
- Figure Eight Pool sometime around 2010ish. Before it was Instafamous...
On another day in 2016 I spent time reacquainting myself with the Palm Jungle, and when I walked out via Burning Palms and up onto the Burgh Ridge that leads to Garrawarra Farm, there was a ranger there counting walkers and asking them a few questions for a simple survey. She and I spoke for a bit, because I was one of the few people she’d met that day who was not going to Burning Palms and/or the Figure of Eight pools. If I recall correctly, part of her survey was about how prepared people were, how much water they carried, additional clothing etc, and she took great interest in my PLB, because I was clearly more prepared to be in the bush than most she’d spoken to that day (and to think I used to walk in with some lunch and water and maybe a rainjacket!). She indicated that many of the people coming down to that section of the National Park were ignorant of surf conditions, tides, or had inadequate footwear, or little water or food.
- Burning Palms Beach leading to the rock platform around to Figure Eight Pool below the second headland. Note people are walking out along the rock platform.
This was around the time people were taking selfies at other locations, such as the Wedding Cake Rock, and at least one person falling from the cliff there, prompting NPWS to put in a fence (I think, I haven’t walked that section in many years).
This conversation has been had many times before, on this forum and in other places, every time a remote place becomes popular and potentially loved to death, and even when deaths begin to occur in these places, maybe because these are high profile.
What is the answer? We all visit places we heard about from other people or books or magazines (I first learnt of the Figure Eight Pool in an publication from the 1970s, and walked all over the park looking for the places in that book). Then, like the fisherman who’s protective of ‘their’ spot, or the surfer protective of ‘their’ break, we get upset when the hoards discover these locations. Partly, or mostly, because these hordes appear to disrespect the locations.
Should people be banned from these places? It could happen. I used to mountain bike, way back in the day, including the Royal Nasho Park. Then all of a sudden it seemed we were banned from all the tracks except fire trails. And part of the ban was because many in the Mountain Bike community were causing erosion on many existing tracks, and as bikes became increasingly sturdy with huge amounts of travel, and some rider’s skills were beyond normal, people began building illegal tracks through the bush with ramps and huge drop offs. In one local bush park near where I grew up and mountain biked in with my school mates since my early teens, new tracks were blazed through the scrub, with rocks moved to build jumps, and tracks went over cliffs, with clearing of most vegetation. Within a short period mountain biking was banned in the park, and in all honesty, I completely agreed with the ban in some locations because people couldn’t look after their environment. Afterwards the Mountain Biking community became more involved with track maintenance after that, negotiating for areas they could ride.
Will this happen to bushwalking, with the permanent closure of some popular locations because they are being loved to death, and/or attracting certain people who aren't experienced or prepared enough or respectful enough to be there?