Got your comment last night and contacted Rydges, here is their reply in full:

Good Morning Jylan

I am more than happy to explain the situation regarding the closure of our Wetlands area. You may not be aware that Iwasaki Sangyo (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., are the owners of the Wetlands area and have been the owners and protectors since its purchase back in the late 1970’s. For the last 38 years, the local community and visitors have been welcome to have access to this wonderful nature reserve. It is sad to say that in more recent years the problems with irresponsible people are becoming more numerous. The vandalism and damage being done consists of pig hunters accessing our property, cutting fences, enabling our cattle access to the main road, which in turn is causing car accidents through no fault of our own, we have dead and injured cattle, we have young people bringing in their vehicles to the wet areas for the purpose of mud bashing which is having serious consequences to the vulnerable areas. Also we have a problem with arson, we are accused of lighting these fires and these fires are destroying the pristine area, the wattle bush love fires and are increasing in numbers instead of allowing the natural habitat to exist. These incidents are becoming so regular that the police and the stock squad have advised us that if we are serious about fixing the problem we would have no option but to start prosecuting the trespassers’. To do this we need to make it clear that this is private property so the trespassers’ cannot plead ignorance. It is sad to think that it has come to this and would have preferred another option, maybe in the future when the irresponsible members of the community have been educated on how valuable this area is, we may be able to reopen this area. Fishing Creek road is still open to the public as it is a Gazetted road. We are also owners of an area of land between Yeppoon and Bangalee, because this area is so close to town it is now being used as a local dumping ground, we have had to resort to using cameras throughout these areas in the hope of stopping these few people who have spoilt it for everyone else and we hope that the concerned responsible people of the area will support us in what we are trying to achieve so the community can once again enjoy this area.

I hope this answers your questions for you, if you do need any further information please feel free to contact me.

Yours faithfully

Mr. Takeshi (Ted) Mitani
Director
Iwasaki Sangyo Co (Aust) Pty Ltd.

I wasn’t expecting such a detailed reply, but it answers a lot of the questions.

Noyzy

We’ll have to go for a drive up that way to see what the situation is, might make a post from the info once I’ve got some photos :-). If you like there’s a way to subscribe to new posts via email, the form can be found below each post in the locality views (Yes I had to ask you…).

Glad you like the site and photos, you probably saw my post about the new design. I’ve been getting a lot of good feedback about the site, so it looks like I’ve done something right ;-).

By the way love your website great photos

Dad and I drove up to Kelly’s Landing (at the back of Corio Bay) a few weeks ago and we noticed those signs too. Originally we were trying to get to Fisherman’s Creek from the Yeppoon-Farnborough Road but there was a big trespasser’s prosecuted sign at Fisherman’s Creek road (although we didn’t realise then that it was) so we went straight past it and ended up going down Kelly’s Landing road.

Along the way to Kelly’s Landing there were a few turnoffs to the wetlands, though as you say they were signed and closed off.

Have you tried accessing the wetlands through Rydges? If you drive up as if you’re going to Corio Bay, but instead turn left in the direction of the Golf Course, that road will lead you to the big intersection with about 5 roads going off in different directions (see the google map).

Please let me know if you’ve tried that :-).

Jylan