By Tyler Wright
In early May, Parks Victoria placed hardwood logs recovered from storm damage in the Dandenong Ranges National Park at Emerald’s Lake Aura Vale car park, but one kayaker and regular park-goer has taken to social media to express his concerns.
“I live in Avonsleigh and I use the lake two times a week during this time of the year, and my whole family would use it a couple of times a week regularly in summer,” Jay Pinkster said.
“We paddleboard and kayak on the lake with a lot of other families.”
But with these logs now sitting between the bitumen and the grass used to access part of the lake, Jay said foot traffic may become a hazard.
“In the last five years, the population of kayakers and stand up paddleboarders who use the lake has absolutely exploded,” he said.
“In Summer when the car park’s congested, you’re going to have all these people carrying their stand up paddleboards and 12 foot kayaks through the middle of the carpark trying to find a gap in the logs…you’ll have 10 cars waiting for a car park or trying to drop stuff off.”
The mums and dads who are trying to carry picnic gear and get over those logs is just ridiculous.”
Parks Victoria Arief Chief Ranger, Darren Mitchell, said there is a “considerable gap between each log, placed adjacent to existing and elevated gutters that encircle the whole car park, with no impact on all abilities access”.
“This placement allows typical visitor access and activity, while identifying a clear entry point to the park,” the area chief ranger said.
“Parks Victoria is using the logs as a management technique to restrict illegal vehicle access into the park, following an increase in unsightly and costly vandalism at Aura Vale Lake Park, and cases of illegal parking at Henleys Picnic Ground.”
Jay Pinkster, also a member of Stand Up Paddle Melbourne, Stand Up Paddle Victoria and Melbourne Paddlers, is calling for more consultation with community organisations invested in public areas.
“It’s not just locals who use the park – people come from all over Victoria to use it.
Aura Vale Lake is a beautiful lake, but it’s also protected from most winds, so you can paddle on that lake when all the beaches are too windy,” he said.
