The business manager of an attractions company says she’s disappointed an agreement could not be reached to bring a giant Ferris wheel back to the Sunshine Coast this year.
There were hopes the SkyLine Ferris Wheel would be based in the region for several months, after successful stints at Bulcock Beach in 2021 and at Coolum in 2022.
But talks broke down between the attraction’s operators and Sunshine Coast Council, and the wheel was instead taken to Hervey Bay.
Xtra Ordinary Events business manager Jane Jones said there was six months of discussions before it fell through.
“It was quite stressful and disappointing,” she said.
“It ended up being a bit of a wild goose chase.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a suitable site … I’m not sure where that leaves us in terms of coming back to the Sunshine Coast in the future.”
An application was submitted in May for the wheel to occupy a site at Bulcock Beach again, but it was rejected.
Council confirmed the site was no longer suitable for the attraction.
“Given the increased visitation to Bulcock Beach and Happy Valley since the Bribie Island breakthrough, the return of the Ferris wheel to Bulcock Beach car park for five months was not supported due to the impact that this would place on an already highly utilised car park,” a spokesperson said.
“Further discussions were held to identify alternative locations such as Kings Beach, a hinterland site, or private property.
“Unfortunately, the alternative sites were not accepted by the business.
“The applicant did propose an alternative option within Happy Valley Park, however due to being a highly utilised parkland by both Sunshine Coast residents and visitors to the region, this was not supported as council is committed to protecting community land for the use of our community.”
Ms Jones said she also expressed an interest in taking the wheel to Cotton Tree.
“But they (council) cited that it didn’t need any sort of activation. Then we asked about a couple of sites in Mooloolaba, which they weren’t happy with,” she said.
“I said to them ‘you suggest a site’ but they just said to put permits in and that they would then do stakeholder feedback and get back to us.
“That’s a bit frustrating, because so much time goes into that whole process.”
The business operators did not apply to bring the wheel back to Coolum this year.
“It’s not the best decision to go back to the same site the year after you have just been there, so we hoped to find another location,” Ms Jones said.
She hoped the wheel would return to the region in 2024.
“We’d love to be back,” she said.
“We’ll probably try for Caloundra again next year and have some early discussions with council and see how it goes and, if not, we might try for Coolum again.”
SkyLine Attractions has two giant wheels that are 35m high, 30m in diameter and weigh 56 tonnes. They have 9000 lights each.
Each wheel can accommodate 144 people, within 24 enclosed six-person gondolas. Rides go for six to eight minutes, for $10 per person or $30 per gondola.
The original wheel alternates between Adelaide in summer-autumn and Darwin in winter-spring, while the newer one, made in 2020, shifts between Melbourne in summer-autumn and Queensland in winter-spring.
Ms Jones said she had initially hoped the wheel could be based on the Sunshine Coast each winter-spring, rotating between Caloundra, Coolum and one other location.
She said the wheel had gained plenty of attention in Hervey Bay this year, after it was locked in at short notice.
“It’s been great,” she said.
“We were only two-and-a-half weeks from the holidays, so we had to scrounge around, and we’ve gone to a private block. We’ve had a great season there so far and will be there until the start of November.”
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