A tourism entrepreneur is proposing to build the ‘longest, fastest and highest’ zip-line in the Asia-Pacific on kunanyi/Mt Wellington – and it could be operational by the end of next year.
TAZZIP director Shane Abel told the ABC the zip-line would provide spectacular views of southern Tasmania.
“You’d be seeing all the way down to Bruny Island, Storm Bay, the city and the Pinnacle,” he said.
“There’s nothing in the Asia-Pacific like this anywhere, so it’ll be very unique.”
“From a tourism perspective, from an advertising perspective, it would certainly be a crowd drawer.”
Covering a 1,300m route from The Springs to Strickland Falls, the zip-line would reach speeds of up to 100 km/h and take 90 seconds to complete.
Abel said a 25m tower, which would be constructed at the beginning of the line, would be open to the public as a viewing platform and at a height that ‘would be out of sight’ from most vantage points.
He also believes that the zip-line’s impact on the environment would be less significant than that of the existing mountain bike trails on the mountain.
However, opposition is brewing even before the development application submission, as concerns are raised about the transformation of kunanyi into a ‘theme park’.
“Aboriginal people will be disappointed and dismayed that a place as special as kunanyi is where someone would propose a tourism gimmick like a zip-line,” ALCT manager Rebecca Digney told the ABC.
“kunanyi is a living cultural landscape, not a theme park.”
Abel plans to lodge a development application by September but needs the support of Hobart City Council and the Wellington Park Management Trust, which may be difficult as similar commercial ventures in the past – such as a cable car proposal – have faced strong criticism and opposition from the community.