MAJOR news on The Gold Coast

Sorry, I know i post a lot about this but a new MAJOR development has been put forward called the Seaway. Read about it below

Ron Clarke's grand Seaway vision

IT'S a tourism vision for the Gold Coast like never before.

A cruise ship enters the deepened Seaway, swings around and docks at a terminal built on old tip land on the southern end of South Stradbroke Island at the Broadwater side.

Tourists board a small train in a glass-topped tunnel and during their ride underneath the Seaway search above for bull sharks.

The ride finishes on a site next to Sea World, where international visitors and surfers can explore the rest of the Coast's attractions.

This is the pet project which former mayor Ron Clarke, now standing as an independent in Broadwater, intends to sell to the next state government.

Council studies suggest the Seaway will need to be deepened to 11m to allow the ships to enter.

Despite some opposition by coastal management researchers, the deepening rather than widening of the Seaway was achievable, Mr Clarke said.

"I've had some hydrological studies undertaken on the southern end of South Stradbroke Island to ascertain the viability of using that reclaimed tip there," he said.

"We could construct a cruise ship facility there, very similar to the one already built at Cairns.

"'And it could link back to the Spit, at say the Sea World Resort, by an underwater tunnel with a single small rail system with a clear glass ceiling to view the fish along the way.

"Fanciful perhaps, but anyone curious enough should check out what has been achieved at Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand and become a believer."

The Tauranga Port in the North Island is expected to host 82 cruise ships during this year's cruising season, helping the area become the fastest-growing region in NZ.

Mr Clarke is pushing ahead with his cruise ship plans, aware the LNP this month pledged $40 million to deepen Trinity Inlet in Cairns but has allocated no money for dredging the Broadwater.

"The Gold Coast cruise ship terminal has already allegedly been studied and rejected as 'environmentally not possible' by the Department of Environment and consequently vetoed by the state," he said.

"The Opposition shows no signs of championing the cause either. Both parties seem to be concentrating on outbidding each other as to how much they can spend on rebuilding the terminal in Cairns to buy votes up there."

But Mr Clarke believes a public-private partnership is the best way forward, with the tunnel being a money spinner because it would provide easy access to the island.

This would be great if it happened. Like I mentioned before though, the QLD government need to think ahead and plan for more than one or two ships at a time and provide facilities that would be able to cope with that. The Gold Coast has the ability to be Australia's answer to Fort Lauderdale. It's already a massive tourist attraction and I think cruises that include the Gold Coast on their itineraries would be very popular. Having space for only one ship is not enough. :)

Sorry, I know i post a lot about this but a new MAJOR development has been put forward called the Seaway. Read about it below

 

Ron Clarke's grand Seaway vision

 

 

IT'S a tourism vision for the Gold Coast like never before.

 

A cruise ship enters the deepened Seaway, swings around and docks at a terminal built on old tip land on the southern end of South Stradbroke Island at the Broadwater side.

 

Tourists board a small train in a glass-topped tunnel and during their ride underneath the Seaway search above for bull sharks.

 

The ride finishes on a site next to Sea World, where international visitors and surfers can explore the rest of the Coast's attractions.

 

"'And it could link back to the Spit, at say the Sea World Resort, by an underwater tunnel with a single small rail system with a clear glass ceiling to view the fish along the way.

 

So how is this small rail system going to manage getting 2000+ passengers off and down to Seaworld before the ship is due to depart?

Ron Clarke is a loon, and this plan is his looniest yet!

His idea is a pipe dream. The cost to put a railway line under the broadwater would be so high. To make that viable they would need a ship coming in everyday.

His idea is a pipe dream. The cost to put a railway line under the broadwater would be so high. To make that viable they would need a ship coming in everyday.

If they can do what they did in dubai, i think one rail system underwater isn't too unreasonable, its a long shot, and if this plan goes ahead i doubt it would be part of the final design, but anythings possible if you have the money. And if they build an actual terminal there, its likely some cruise companies will eventually base ships out of the city, and as a family person, that sounds very appealing to me. It also looks like there will be 2 berths there as well, if cruise ships on south pacific voyages stop off at the gold coast on one way of their trip it would make the port busier

Also I think 1 monorail going back and fourth definitely would not be enough, they would have to do a circulation so there can be more than 1 or the circuit. Which obviously would cost more, alternatively if the plan goes ahead to build an underwater monorail, they could also build a bridge to broad water and have the monorail as an option with a fee

Ron Clarke's grand Seaway vision

 

"We could construct a cruise ship facility there, very similar to the one already built at Cairns.

--------------------------------------------------

"Fanciful perhaps, but anyone curious enough should check out what has been achieved at Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand and become a believer."

 

The Tauranga Port in the North Island is expected to host 82 cruise ships during this year's cruising season, helping the area become the fastest-growing region in NZ.

Perhaps there are 2 things that this Mr Clarke should be told.

1. In Cairns, large cruise ships can't enter the port and have to anchor off Yorkeys Knob.

2. Tauranga. No facilities have been built for the cruise trade. The deep water dock has always been there since the port was built. The only expense the Port Authority has to cope with are some security fences and security staff on the day a ship calls.There is no terminal, and there is no need for a terminal. If it rains there is an amazing invention they use...its called an umbrella.:D

2. Tauranga. No facilities have been built for the cruise trade. The deep water dock has always been there since the port was built. The only expense the Port Authority has to cope with are some security fences and security staff on the day a ship calls.There is no terminal, and there is no need for a terminal. If it rains there is an amazing invention they use...its called an umbrella.:D

 

 

Thanks for clearing that up, I was trying to work out what amazing infrastructure I had missed all my times in Tauranga. Obviously nothing. :)

If we never have dreamers and their visions for the future then nothing would ever get built...I hope something gets built to accommodate cruising on the Gold Coast.

And I also hope Sydney gets on with in before we are left behind and all the tourist dollars go to somewhere else.

Sue

Wavebreak Island at the entrance to the Southport Broadwater was built for a purpose - hidden within it's name . It is meant to buffer the cyclonic storm swells from entering the shallow Broadwater.

Campaigning politicians!! - especially small time politicians running for local Mayoral office!!!! :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Barry

Wavebreak Island at the entrance to the Southport Broadwater was built for a purpose - hidden within it's name . It is meant to buffer the cyclonic storm swells from entering the shallow Broadwater.

 

Campaigning politicians!! - especially small time politicians running for local Mayoral office!!!! :rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

Barry

Maybe they could build a floating terminal with a chairlift back to shore, and while there at it a monorail up to the airport in Brisbane and one back down to Coolangatta so you can fly to join your cruise:rolleyes:.

They haven't even got two lines all of the way from the coast to Brisbane, or even started the line out to Redcliffe.

How about we concentrate on providing services to the local populations instead of pandering to overseas cruise lines and those of us who are lucky enough to be able to afford to cruise?

Sorry, but this sort of rubbish gets my back up (as everyone can tell):mad:

Ron Clarke, the former Gold Coast mayor, is running as an independent in the current Queensland state elections. Anything to get political attention when you don't belong to a major political party - enough said!

Local people in the vicinity of Main Beach, The Spit, Wavebreak Island, and South Stradbroke Island on the Gold Coast do not want a cruise terminal on the Gold Coast.

From Save Our Spit background history -

The Mayor of Fort Lauderdale in Florida recently visited Gold Coast and told a public gathering in paraphrase

"If I could get rid of the cruise liners I would. The returns are small and the cost to the community resources are enormous."

http://www.saveourspit.com/

Ron Clarke, the former Gold Coast mayor, is running as an independent in the current Queensland state elections. Anything to get political attention when you don't belong to a major political party - enough said!

 

Local people in the vicinity of Main Beach, The Spit, Wavebreak Island, and South Stradbroke Island on the Gold Coast do not want a cruise terminal on the Gold Coast.

 

From Save Our Spit background history -

 

The Mayor of Fort Lauderdale in Florida recently visited Gold Coast and told a public gathering in paraphrase

 

"If I could get rid of the cruise liners I would. The returns are small and the cost to the community resources are enormous."

 

http://www.saveourspit.com/

and hear again

The Mayor of Fort Lauderdale in Florida recently visited Gold Coast and told a public gathering in paraphrase ;

"If I could get rid of the cruise liners I would. The returns are small and the cost to the community resources are enormous."

I can understand that.

Just think about all the regular servicing those cruise ships need . If you follow at the webcams at Fort Lauderdale they sometimes pan around and you get an appreciation of the masses of tanks that are between the port and the airport.

..... for fuel, oil, waste oil, waste products etc....

just imagine a collection of huge metal tanks built next to Sea World.

Ron Clarke, the former Gold Coast mayor, is running as an independent in the current Queensland state elections. Anything to get political attention when you don't belong to a major political party - enough said!

 

Local people in the vicinity of Main Beach, The Spit, Wavebreak Island, and South Stradbroke Island on the Gold Coast do not want a cruise terminal on the Gold Coast.

 

From Save Our Spit background history -

 

The Mayor of Fort Lauderdale in Florida recently visited Gold Coast and told a public gathering in paraphrase

 

"If I could get rid of the cruise liners I would. The returns are small and the cost to the community resources are enormous."

 

http://www.saveourspit.com/

I find the mayor of Fort Lauderdale opinion to be ridiculous, if they took away that terminal how many jobs would go for starters that are just involved with that terminal?

Also what about the flow onto hotels etc?

I agree Ron Clarke's idea is a dream, South Stradbroke Island is not the place for a terminal, it needs to be on the spit.

The Gold Coast tourism industry needs a big big boost as the coast is in a very bad way.

 

I agree Ron Clarke's idea is a dream, South Stradbroke Island is not the place for a terminal, it needs to be on the spit.

 

I don't know how well you know this area - but the Southport Spit is a very narrow and low stretch of unstable sand. On one side of it is the Pacific Ocean - on the other side of it is a very shallow sand basin commonly known as the Southport Broadwater. None of that area is suitable for the building of a major cruise terminal.

Barry

I don't know how well you know this area - but the Southport Spit is a very narrow and low stretch of unstable sand. On one side of it is the Pacific Ocean - on the other side of it is a very shallow sand basin commonly known as the Southport Broadwater. None of that area is suitable for the building of a major cruise terminal.

 

Barry

Yes I am from SE Qld, but from my recollection is they wanted to put the original terminal in somewhere in that area. Though looking at the website, it appears to be right at the end http://www.saveourspit.com/

Yes I am from SE Qld, but from my recollection is they wanted to put the original terminal in somewhere in that area. Though looking at the website, it appears to be right at the end http://www.saveourspit.com/

I may sounds stupid, but whats wrong with building a terminal at the edge of south broke island?? Who does it affect and how much does it affect them, I'm just curious.

Also im not from the area, but are the locals so obsessed with saving the spit so much?? is there a reason,

This "Artist rendering" is ridiculous, obviously if they built A terminal there it would not look like that

I may sounds stupid, but whats wrong with building a terminal at the edge of south broke island?? Who does it affect and how much does it affect them, I'm just curious.

Also im not from the area, but are the locals so obsessed with saving the spit so much?? is there a reason,

 

This "Artist rendering" is ridiculous, obviously if they built A terminal there it would not look like that

no one but the huge quetion is who is going to fund it ?

True, however i guess we'll just have to wait for him to present it to the government and try and get the idea over, if somehow the idea works, i highly doubt the underwater monorail (as nice as the nice is) will be included)

I may sounds stupid, but whats wrong with building a terminal at the edge of south broke island?? Who does it affect and how much does it affect them, I'm just curious.

Also im not from the area, but are the locals so obsessed with saving the spit so much?? is there a reason,

 

This "Artist rendering" is ridiculous, obviously if they built A terminal there it would not look like that

Just out of interest CronNich, where are you from? SE Qld? Any ties to the travel industry? I'm just interested as to why you, and some others think this is such a great idea.

As I said earlier, I grew up fishing in the Broadwater. When I was a school kid I was one of the group that campaigned to leave the Broadwater as is (no Wavebreak island etc. We lost that one but I would imagine there will be many much louder and more powerful opponents to this hair brain scheme. All of my family still live on the coast and none support this 'develop at all cost' mantra of so many.

I'm sorry, but so many cruisers are amongst the most selfish of travellers. They expect to be delivered into the centre of a city or location so they can walk off and be 'there'. If they can't they whinge and moan about how much of the day they waste getting to and from the port, leaving them no time to lay on a beach or to shop.

If making the most of your visit is so important don't cruise. Fly to your destination and immerse yourself.

Don't get me wrong, we love cruising. But we cruise with the expectation we may have to travel for hours to get somewhere just for a glimpse.

A few years back we visited Dakar in Senegal. It was a very confronting place - the poverty, the inherent aggression of many of the male population. But it was amazing. The people were so proud, smiles from ear to ear on every woman and child we saw.

When we were sailing away I was sat with some fellow cruisers and I was horrified to hear some of them say they should put some money into gardens in the medium strips, and having water trucks driving around and wetting the roads to keep the dust down.

They didn't think that the Senegalese had more important things to do than spend money to make their city more pretty for some pampered North Americans who expected to find Florida wherever they travelled?

Oh, that's the Gold Coast:rolleyes:

On the news today they said the QLD goverment was 86 billion dollors in the red.

On the news today they said the QLD goverment was 86 billion dollors in the red.

I wish the media would get it right....

that should read ...

the people of QLD owe 86 billion...

so what's a few more billion in the bigger scheme of things for a third cruise terminal for the SE QLD region?

Just out of interest CronNich, where are you from? SE Qld? Any ties to the travel industry? I'm just interested as to why you, and some others think this is such a great idea.

 

As I said earlier, I grew up fishing in the Broadwater. When I was a school kid I was one of the group that campaigned to leave the Broadwater as is (no Wavebreak island etc. We lost that one but I would imagine there will be many much louder and more powerful opponents to this hair brain scheme. All of my family still live on the coast and none support this 'develop at all cost' mantra of so many.

 

I'm sorry, but so many cruisers are amongst the most selfish of travellers. They expect to be delivered into the centre of a city or location so they can walk off and be 'there'. If they can't they whinge and moan about how much of the day they waste getting to and from the port, leaving them no time to lay on a beach or to shop.

 

If making the most of your visit is so important don't cruise. Fly to your destination and immerse yourself.

 

Don't get me wrong, we love cruising. But we cruise with the expectation we may have to travel for hours to get somewhere just for a glimpse.

 

A few years back we visited Dakar in Senegal. It was a very confronting place - the poverty, the inherent aggression of many of the male population. But it was amazing. The people were so proud, smiles from ear to ear on every woman and child we saw.

 

When we were sailing away I was sat with some fellow cruisers and I was horrified to hear some of them say they should put some money into gardens in the medium strips, and having water trucks driving around and wetting the roads to keep the dust down.

 

They didn't think that the Senegalese had more important things to do than spend money to make their city more pretty for some pampered North Americans who expected to find Florida wherever they travelled?

 

Oh, that's the Gold Coast:rolleyes:

I don't mean to sound selfish, obviously i have no experience in the area, so what i say is only an opinion, i love the idea of turning into Australia into a world class destination with beautiful beaches, high-tech clean cities, coral reefs, rainforest, its just my point of view, some cities feel compared to other countries mediocre and dirty at times, so i just love the idea of making tourism bigger here. Im not saying BUILD A TERMINAL HERE OR ELSE, from my own knowledge of all factors of the area (which is next to nil) to me as the traveller this idea is nice

I may sounds stupid, but whats wrong with building a terminal at the edge of south broke island?? Who does it affect and how much does it affect them, I'm just curious.

Also im not from the area, but are the locals so obsessed with saving the spit so much?? is there a reason,

 

The locals are obsessed with saving the Spit, because it is unique and fragile. The ocean beach, from Main Beach to the Spit, is one of the most beautiful on the Gold Coast, certainly less crowded. To walk along that beach close to dawn or dusk is food for the soul.

We tend to take our beaches for granted, because they are free to all. Yet they are what sets us apart from many of our overseas visitors, who live in high density cities.

I could list many reasons why locals are passionate about the Spit, but I'll start with just one - fishing.

Living in SE Queensland were blessed with some beautiful shore fishing opportunities from Jacobs Well to Tweed heads, but one of my favorite spots to sped a day is The Spit, on the Gold Coast. Besides been incredibly scenic, it offers some fantastic bread & butter fishing including Whiting, Bream & Flathead with the occasional Squire (small snapper) thrown in for the mix.

If you head up Sea world drive, & take the first left past Sea world (Henchman Drive) you'll come to a small park with 2 boat ramps. These are more often than not quite busy with traffic, but don't let this turn you off. Between both of these ramps is a nice little sandy beach where I've been targeting Whiting now for the past 2 years, but more-so in the summer months where whiting seem to be at there peak, & 30cm elbow slappers are quite common.

In Summer the bigger whiting come on the chew.

Its important to find a place where fish will congregate, & the only reason for a fish to do this is food, If you head up the beach (east) you'll come to a dead end, it's here you'll find a good place to pump some yabbies. From here back local knowledge or a little research, will inform you that a deep gutter follows the southern edge of the estuary back to the main system. Its in this gutter where the whiting seem to be following the edge of the beach up to there feeding point. Low tide seems to be the target time for whiting to be on the chew, & I find that 40min after the tide swing its like a desert & you may as well pack up & wait for the next tide change. I find the best bait's to use here are blood worms or sand worms during the low tide, although soft plastics also work a treat, especially in the form of berkley worms. During the high tide I switch over to pilchards, as the water isn't as shallow you tend to get more bream around.

Speaking of Bream, the Goldie has abundance of them. If for some reason this spot doesn't seem to suit you (i.e. wind), there are many spots around to try. Have I mentioned there are about 15 bridges around the Gold Coast in about 20min drive of the Spit? These are good places to avoid bad weather conditions such as wind, with the surrounding buildings offering good protection. Try Budds Beach for one, or even under the Gold Coast bridge that has a walkway, especially for fishing (or so I believe). Bream are good fun & if you stick to basic's, such as around structure you should be able to walk away with a decent feed. Or try a lure or two, some of my fav's are Small Minnows, Ecogear lure's from 2.5 - 5gms and of course Berkley Gulp 6 sandworms (try Camo) & cut in half for better results. Don't be surprised if a flattie picks you up either, as these lizards move right up the estuary to feed on smaller bait fish, & are just mad for a passing lure.

Oh, then there's the main beach, but enough said. Gota love the Goldie for a day trip at the casino, but if you take a rod Id suggest you need longer. Tight lines to you all.

http://www.shorefishingaustralia.com.au/Articles.do?action=Show&articleType=Articles&articleName=Fishing+the+Gold+Coast