JUNGLE DRUM: Single lane, creative bridge the answer to diabolical Daintree Ferry saga

In the 80s, it was announced we were getting phones. SSB radio was on the only contact with the outside world for the odd telegram or an emergency.

Some bemoaned the arrival of phones, and people said that all the wildlife would leave. Tourists would also desert us due to excessive ringing. Nobody would be able to pay the bill! Yet by the 1990s we were all packing Cow Bay Hotel to yell at whatever hapless Telstra executive dared venture up here. Because we wanted more reliability!

The next challenge was bitumen. Berwick’s Council struck a deal where the road to Bailey Creek was de-mained, and seven million went to DSC, to seal the whole road. Wildlife would be decimated. Tourists would hate it. People would drive at 120 everywhere. The harbingers of doom were out in force. Now we complain when they don’t clear the trees off it quickly enough, and rental cars keep our economy alive.

The Ergon power proposal was going to kill all the Cassowaries despite the fact that this does not happen elsewhere in the Wet Tropics. Strange science…

Even DSC is not immune to this fear of change. When small causeways that flooded regularly resulted in accidents and people being trapped, DSC wrote to us and said the causeways couldn’t be raised due to ‘dangerous afflux waves’. Apparently this engineering problem, unique to the Daintree, was solved because all causeways have been raised for some time and the problems alleviated. 

Howls again erupted when the ferry went from 6pm to midnight. Tales of mass burglaries, slaughtered wildlife and drunk thugs roaming held sway for a while. But now we all realize it was for the best.

A bigger ferry in 2006 was also going to kill wildlife with extra traffic and ruin tourism. Lots of accidents and cars bumper to bumper. Didn’t happen. 

Mobile phones were the next threat, even when protestors were actually using phones to post pics of tower construction! Tourists apparently wanted to be off-grid. Except that so many of them get online that the small tower here struggles already!

Now, true to form, we are determined to keep our ferry. The bridge debate has been carefully crafted, with images of giant concrete monstrosities and tales of wanton destruction. But my call is, it is time to move forward.

A single lane bridge controlled by lights and perhaps an innovative design a la the Buddha Hand Bridge in Vietnam, (maybe a take on living Fig Bridges?) including wide pedestrian access is the way to go. Not some pretend ‘solar augmented ferry’ that is really a thinly veiled diesel dinosaur. A dinosaur that currently eats money prodigiously and forces the dredging of the bed of our famous river at least once a year.

Like the Daintree Microgrid, a thoughtfully conceived single lane bridge will make us a REAL eco-tourism destination. No more constant diesel and dredging.  It will allow more reliable access, but maintain the traffic control of the ferry. It would be an attraction in its own right. It is time to stop being scared of the future and put an end to pretend eco-tourism.

*Lawrence Mason has lived at Cape Tribulation all his life, and has been involved in farming, timber and tourism. He is a former board member of Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, founding Chair of Daintree Marketing Co-operative, and has been a member of both Alexandra Bay and Mossman State High School P&C. He is also a member of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce and has a keen interest in local issues.