People pushing strollers among hundreds flocking to Mt Martha hotspot The Pillars daily
PARENTS are pushing strollers along a Mt Martha clifftop to a jumping hotspot where hundreds of thrillseekers are flouting an alcohol ban and ignoring warnings not to plunge into the bay in their quest for social media glory.
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REGULAR patrols and an alcohol ban haven’t stopped thrillseekers flocking to The Pillars.
The social media hot spot at Mt Martha, where daredevils jump from the cliffs into the bay, is still drawing hundreds of visitors daily.
Mornington Peninsula Shire and police have worked hard to limit anti-social behaviour, traffic congestion and extreme littering.
An alcohol ban has been expanded to include unopened containers and shire officers and police are patrolling the area three times daily.
But despite the crackdown, visitors have not been deterred, ignoring warning signs about the dangers of climbing the cliffs and flouting the alcohol ban.
When the Leader visited last Thursday there were more than 50 people at the site including a couple with a preschooler.
Most would have walked past signs alerting them to the “risk of death” on the “unstable cliffs” and dangerous “submerged objects”.
About a dozen of the bathers were carrying open bottles of beer.
Among the cliff jumpers were Jayden Wilson and Neesha Shimmen who had travelled from the Yarra Valley to “tick the experience of their bucket list”.
“We visit the Peninsula a lot but this is the first time we have come to The Pillars,” Mr Wilson said.
“We heard about it from friends and through social media,” Ms Shimmen said.
Both jumped.
Andy Briggs was there with son Will, 11, with the pair walking from nearby Marguerita Ave to take the plunge.
“We often come down,” Mr Briggs said.
“If the conditions are right we jump. If not we go back home and try again another day.”
“We both jumped today,” Will said.
“It’s OK for us. We are local and don’t feel we have to jump every time. But a lot of people are visiting from the other side of Melbourne or even overseas and they feel they have to do it regardless because they have come all that way for the experience,” Mr Briggs said.
He said he moved to Marguerita Ave about a year ago and hadn’t experienced the traffic chaos of previous summers.
“There does seem to be a lot of people walking along The Esplanade to get here,” he said.
“I think they have learned to park legally, further away, and walk to the site.
“Crazily I have seen quite a few people with strollers walking along the Esplanade and making their way down the cliffs.”
In 2017 a total of 369 infringement notices were issued in Deakin Drive and Marguerita Ave including 254 fines for $155 parking in a no stopping zone.
Mornington Peninsula Shire environment protection manager John Rankine said illegal parking had been identified as a major safety concern in the two streets with vehicles blocking driveways and obstructing emergency services vehicles.
Shire Mayor Bryan Payne said the council was collecting data about the effectiveness of their efforts this summer to send to the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (DELWP) for analysis.
DELWP would report back to council in May.