Many grey nomads will be familiar with the sometimes long waiting times to use the Daintree ferry, and it seems the problem has been getting worse.
Driven to some degree by a council offer to allow local residents free travel between November 1 and February 28, the data shows the ferry has experienced record numbers over the past 18 months … and that has led to some monster waiting times during peak periods.
In an effort to ease the problem, Newsport Daily reports that the Douglas Shire is to offer an early bird discount to those who travel before 9am during the busy school holiday period which runs from September 15 to October 3. The new initiative will see return fares cut by more than 25% to $20, with one-way fares available for $10, a discount of more than 33% for self-drive tourists.
“This initiative also has the added benefit of encouraging self-drive visitors to spend longer north of the Daintree River so they have more time to experience the beauty of the region and the diversity of tours and activities available,” said Douglas Shire Mayor Julia Leu. “We are hopeful this new ‘early bird’ discount for self-drive tourists during this trial period will also have a positive impact on not just the Daintree economy, but make the experience of visiting the Daintree better for everyone by reducing the demand for travel during peak periods for north bound traffic.”
However, some critics say the initiative is effectively tinkering around the edges of what is a more fundamental problem.
Commenting in the Newsport social media pages, Cape Tribulation resident Rob Lauper said a study back in 2004 had recommended a second ferry be introduced … but absolutely nothing had happened since.
“If the Melbourne Cricket Ground had one toilet and the queues were horrendous you could pay highly qualified suitable experts to do studies with online ticket systems, priority lanes and early bird specials,” he said. “Or you could ask your granny … and she would say build more dunnies!”
He says that the problem is also created by the tourism bodies that market the Daintree only as a day attraction, and says queues would be lessened if more people were encouraged to stay overnight in the Daintree.
The executive officer of Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree (TPDD), Tara Bennett, has previously lauded the exciting experience that travellers can enjoy in driving on to the ferry for the five-minute trip across the mighty Daintree River, which meanders for 140 kilometres and is home to bountiful fish, birdlife, crocodiles and more,
We have just spend five days at Cape Tribulation, and obviously used the ferry to arrive. There were no waiting issues involved with the ferry. I don’t know what the problem here is. The camp site we used even gave us discounted ferry tickets to use to come and go to use the dump point at Mossman. (this is a greater issue as there are none north of the Daintree until you arrive in Cooktown).