The privately-owned pontoons off the new boardwalk along the Cudgen Creek estuary at south Kingscliff are proving popular for many who use them for diving off or sunbaking, but nearby residents are not amused. Photo Luis Feliu

Residents of waterfront apartments next to the new boardwalk/cycleway along Cudgen Creek in Kingscliff have enjoyed a huge improvement to their lifestyle that the $828,000 facility has provided since it opened just before Christmas, but it has come at a cost.
Owners of some of the buildings have private pontoons off the boardwalk which have become popular with youngsters and adults alike who use them for sunbaking, diving and jumping off.

The three pontoons are accessible to apartment residents, and everyone else, via a gate from the boardwalk but people using the estuary for swimming and boating can simply swim up to the pontoons.
Resident Sophia Fudala, who has rented an apartment there for seven years, said ‘we had no problems before the boardwalk was built, now we want our pontoon to go, even though we loved it, it is causing too many problems’.
Australia Day, Ms Fudala said, was the last straw after a group of youngsters ripped off the gate leading to her apartment block and used the private property and the privatpontoon most of day. The gate was later retrieved from the river by a resident but could not be fixed.

Another gate leading to the pontoon which had been chained up by residents had all its bars ripped out because it could not be detached by pontoon users.
‘There’s so much noise from them, skateboard riders ride up and down at six in he morning, there’s barking dogs, kids yelling and screaming, we don’t get any peace now,’ she said.
‘Adults and kids even access the boardwalk by coming down through our apartment blocks from Hungerford Lane, they even use our (outdoor) showers.

‘If there’s an accident on those pontoons, the owner is liable for anything that happens. I’ve warned the kids jumping off but they ignored me so we’re fighting a losing battle here,’ Ms Fudala said.
A visitor using the boardwalk steps to access the estuary said he couldn’t see a problem with swimmers in the estuary using the pontoons to rest or sunbake but could understand the residents’ frustration and conceded safety could be an issue.
The 300-metre-long boardwalk connects with existing boardwalks and paths at Clough Lane and Marine Parade, making it easy to walk or ride from Salt at South Kings­cliff.

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