A short while ago, I had to smile. Something had been done to my dive site. But it was highly amusing to see what construction had been erected. It is easy to tell that the only goal was to do nothing but support the local business with public money. You get the impression that the new Seaway entry (which is the old one) is inspired by the sand pipe at the beach. It has to be highly visible. But contrary to the sand pipe it is just hard to see any purpose of the new stairs.
Impressive concrete construction. Unfortunately, it doesn't come with an instruction manual. Is it for bikes to be tied down? No, of course, it is for the messy scuba divers that come in groups, that are too frail or inexperienced to prepare and do the pre-dive check by themselves. It was good to sacrifice four parking lots for that concrete area. That will be the preaching ground and marking territory of the Seaway hero divers, of hordes of new scuba pupils who will be happy to sniff some effluent Seaway water. Where is the shower? Where is the shade? Where is the dive flag? Anyway, maybe this is just modern art. Maybe this is the ticket area for the new cruise ship terminal!? Why would any diver use this space? Or is it for skate boarders? Oh, yes, it is easier for scuba divers to have a concrete block to sit on, a simulated dive boat, uncomfortable. But it helps muscle memory and your back muscles. So: thank you for that.
This picture illustrates that bridge construction has reached epidemic dimensions at the Gold Coast. This is the stair bridge to the concrete platform that always served armies of scuba divers, snorkelers, surfers, fishermen, spearkillers and tourists to enter and exit the Seaway. It can be quite busy on a weekend. Anyone who wants to know who built this engineering masterpiece can check the plaque between the fastening bolts. Isn't it ingenious that they managed to build three steps up. Surely, this is for when climate change raises sea levels.
You would assume that these steps have a reason or at least a justification. I am not an engineer. I would just have built a level platform out, the beam embedded in or bolted right onto the concrete. That would have been easily possible by grinding only one single boulder about 3 cm. But physics tells that welted angles not only look good they are also statically more reliable than right angles. Are they?
And scuba divers again, would loose out without those steps. Nobody could sit on them and block the stairs for everybody else. Nobody would do that in Australia because we are a considerate people. The steps also help scuba divers to train their muscles. The average scuba diver has about 15 kg of weight on their backs. Some, depending on their extra floatation upholster from too many BBQs, carry insane amounts of lead around their waists. Actually, you loose all sense of weight under water. So, it is good to experience it on land and make that unique zero weigh feeling even more special.
Finally, those underwater people don't have to navigate their land weight between boulders on a narrow but safe and moderately sloping path any more. They can climb up! Well, that offers better view of what they can expect further down. After a short recovery on the beautiful and long platform they can climb the three steps down on the sea side until they are as far as they had started. The beautifully constructed stairs with hand rails continue for a bit. Down it goes for a few metres. Finally, when you have made it to the concrete platform you notice something really exciting:
The stairs have not solved the big problem of scuba divers at all. There are no stairs that reach down to the water and it is as tricky as before to enter and exit the Seaway at that spot with scuba gear and cameras. The main thing is that taxpayers have paid for a new bridge that makes Australian politicians proud. It only took a couple of years to get that project going and the results can measure up with politics on a national level. Frankly, this is hilarious if it was just not so sad and embarrassing. It does not affect me at all, but please stop doing something for scuba divers and scuba tourism at the Gold Coast.
But finally, the Gold Coast has what I call a 'Mini Cruise ship terminal'. Congratulations!
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Beautiful beaches full of dogs, dog poo, spearkillers and jet racers.
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You would assume that these steps have a reason or at least a justification. I am not an engineer. I would just have built a level platform out, the beam embedded in or bolted right onto the concrete. That would have been easily possible by grinding only one single boulder about 3 cm. But physics tells that welted angles not only look good they are also statically more reliable than right angles. Are they?
And scuba divers again, would loose out without those steps. Nobody could sit on them and block the stairs for everybody else. Nobody would do that in Australia because we are a considerate people. The steps also help scuba divers to train their muscles. The average scuba diver has about 15 kg of weight on their backs. Some, depending on their extra floatation upholster from too many BBQs, carry insane amounts of lead around their waists. Actually, you loose all sense of weight under water. So, it is good to experience it on land and make that unique zero weigh feeling even more special.
Finally, those underwater people don't have to navigate their land weight between boulders on a narrow but safe and moderately sloping path any more. They can climb up! Well, that offers better view of what they can expect further down. After a short recovery on the beautiful and long platform they can climb the three steps down on the sea side until they are as far as they had started. The beautifully constructed stairs with hand rails continue for a bit. Down it goes for a few metres. Finally, when you have made it to the concrete platform you notice something really exciting:
The stairs have not solved the big problem of scuba divers at all. There are no stairs that reach down to the water and it is as tricky as before to enter and exit the Seaway at that spot with scuba gear and cameras. The main thing is that taxpayers have paid for a new bridge that makes Australian politicians proud. It only took a couple of years to get that project going and the results can measure up with politics on a national level. Frankly, this is hilarious if it was just not so sad and embarrassing. It does not affect me at all, but please stop doing something for scuba divers and scuba tourism at the Gold Coast.
But finally, the Gold Coast has what I call a 'Mini Cruise ship terminal'. Congratulations!
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