Beach commercialisation risks ruining the perfect day out
Plans to allow food vans near the beach will tie up one of our favourite pastimes in red tape and ruin the perfect family day out.
Opinion
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WHEN I was a girl, living in the cold climes of the Blue Mountains, an annual highlight was our family holiday in Noosa.
We’d spend two glorious weeks in the sunshine, lazing on the beach, walking the National Park trails and enjoying the novelty of being warm.
But aside from Noosa’s natural beauty, my enduring memory of these holidays is food related.
After a morning paddling in the ocean I loved being able to scoot up the hot sand to a hole-in-the-wall called Betty’s Burgers.
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Most days you’d find Betty, sweating over the grill plate in her voluminous cotton floral dress cooking up her famous burgers.
And I’m not talking fancy $15 burgers with relish and caramelised onions either.
I’m talking good old-fashioned burger with the lot – meat pattie, salad, egg and sauce.
All served within throwing distance of the beach.
Later in the day, back on the beach, I’d wait for the bronzed man to ride by on his quad bike offering snow cones.
There’s nothing like a snow cone to cool you down on a hot Queensland beach day.
Simple things, but cherished childhood memories.
As I read about the council’s proposal to commercialise Gold Coast beaches I couldn’t help but think “why make it so complex?”
Apparently food trucks will park near the beach and take phone orders, which will be delivered to people’s towels. God only knows how they’ll find them in the crowds, but that’s a problem for another day.
Under the proposal, what the food vans can sell and how much they can sell per order will be legislated.
Who will ensure the rules are being adhered to and frankly what’s wrong with people ducking over the road to grab a bite to eat from one of the many outfits paying high rents for the rights to service the hordes flocking to our beaches?
I understand the idea of offering beach umbrellas, surfboards and deck chairs for hire on the beach. Makes sense.
A snowcone and a cool drink also make sense. Coffee too.
But at what point did it become “essential” for beachgoers to have pizzas and burgers delivered to the sand?
For once Cr Bob La Castra and I see eye to eye. He told the Council’s Community Services committee that he has grave reservations about the proposal, which he says will “open a can of worms”.
If I was a tenant in Cavill Ave I’d be making a noise too – why should a non rent-paying operator be allowed to skim the cream off this lucrative market by offering things that are available just 50m away?
The meter maids don’t like the idea either. Meter Maid owner Roberta Aitchison is about to launch an app that connects beachgoers with local food businesses.
Their orders will be delivered by gold bikini-wearing meter maids.
At least this idea taps into the existing businesses although I’m not sure I want my sons’ lunch being delivered by a Meter Maid wearing very little.
A day at the beach should be simple. What’s being proposed isn’t.
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