PROGRESS is being made following the recent talks between the Tea Gardens/Hawks Nest Community and Port Stephens Ferry Service.

Malcolm Anderson, Business Advisor to Ferry Operator Adrian Thompson, met last week with MidCoast Council’s Daniel Aldridge to discuss changes to the timetable signage at the Tea Gardens Wharf.

“We’re going to get the signage sorted so that anyone walking here can understand it and what we’re doing on any given day,” Malcolm Anderson told News Of The Area.

Currently the sign is a mishmash of blocked out phone numbers from operators no longer servicing the Tea Gardens run.

It also states that ‘Ferries depart every half hour 7 days a week’.

Council’s Daniel Aldridge says there’s no impediment to a new sign as far as MidCoast is concerned.
“Approval is already in place,” Mr Aldridge said.

“Anyone who sees the sign will be able to work out how to contact us,” Mr Anderson said.

“We will link that to the available technology that everyone has access to these days, Facebook, our website and mobile phone.”

“We know how important the ferry is to the whole community not just the tourism industry.”

Mr Anderson says the new signage is a priority and will hopefully be in place within weeks along with a new timetable.

As for the ferries no longer stopping at the Hawks Nest Wharf, Mr Anderson said, “We have no way of knowing who’s going to be there, it adds to the timetable, it’s not a simple pick up.”

“There are issues we are still trying to resolve around Hawks Nest.”

 

By Margie TIERNEY