21 September 2010

The Cotter Dam expansion observation platform

| johnboy
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[First filed: Sep 19, 2010 @ 22:01]

Cotter Dam observation platform

The Cotter Dam Discovery Trail was opened yesterday amid some hoopla which saw my name taken in vain on certain radio stations.

I went up today to experience the trail in the same way it’s going to be running for the duration of the construction.

Having parked where the old pub used to be the first thing I’d recommend is parking at Cotter Bend, the path runs all the way from there and it’s really beautiful walking further along the burbling river.

(More and a slideshow below)

The engineering of the walkway is staggering.

There’s a rubble ramp which bypasses most of the zig-zagging pathway. The problem is that it you take the ramp you miss all the interpretative signage.

Seriously, once you learn that Garrett Cotter came out that way having been banished “beyond the limits of location” and his wife Anne Russell came out to live with him you’ll have endless discussions about just how little she must have had going on with her life.

There are also no end of plaques set into the walkway, the rusted ones celebrating the drought years in a history of Canberra’s water supply.

With the effort made to make the whole thing wheelchair accessible it really should be compulsory for all of the access impaired in Canberra to go and appreciate the lengths gone to out there.

In any event, it’s a lovely walk, the scale of the construction is awesome to behold, and the interpretative stuff is generally pretty interesting.

While I wonder about what it all must have cost us, done is done and we may as well enjoy it.

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I’m pleased to see that the old fish hatchery has survived.

Pommy bastard11:20 am 22 Sep 10

Anybody know if dogs are allowed on the trail?

😉

great day out for wheelchair people, go all the way out to Cotter and look at the wall. yeah!

I believe International Cosplay Day has come and gone. In the meantime, not enough pictures of the fetching Pirate lass.

creative_canberran9:40 pm 20 Sep 10

Most of the infrastructure over-kill was to make the trail wheelchair assessable. Otherwise they could have left much of the original trail the way it was.

I dunno. It could be an ideal medium for those abseiling+stencilling types…

It’s gonna be a great view of the side of a wall when the dam is finished..

JessicaNumber8:08 pm 20 Sep 10

I’m still waiting for International Cosplay Day. In the meantime I take advantage of other holidays. Halloween is up soon!

Pommy bastard11:28 am 20 Sep 10

Are dogs allowed on the trail?

Pathway and viewing platform complete… Now can we get on with building the new dam before we go back into drought?

All you people complain about is cost and the environment. Live a little you freaks.

ramblingted said :

Would it be possible to build a more environmentally intrusive pathway? I doubt it.

Are you kidding? You do know what is being built in that valley (ie that the path GOES to), don’t you?

😛

Photo #22 – symbol “borrowed” from The Fifth Element… noice…

😉

JessicaNumber said :

That’s the most over-engineered “trail” I’ve ever seen.

…maybe the same contractor should be hired for a particular bridge over the Barton Highway…

Arrr! There be pirates, sez I!

Would it be possible to build a more environmentally intrusive pathway? I doubt it.

Felix the Cat6:24 am 20 Sep 10

Alan Shore said :

There used to be a pub at the Cotter? Best idea ever!

It burnt down in the fires of 2003 and was never replaced. Shame really.

Alan, some of us cant even imagine the cotter without the pub, you must be new around here, welcome.

There used to be a pub at the Cotter? Best idea ever!

arthwollipot10:21 pm 19 Sep 10

I’ll have to go check it out.

JessicaNumber10:10 pm 19 Sep 10

Yarrr! Twas a grand adventure.

That’s the most over-engineered “trail” I’ve ever seen.

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