Turquoise Way Path Extension Cervantes to Hill River

Project Overview

Jurien Bay and Cervantes are connected by the Indian Ocean Drive - a stunning coastal route north of Perth giving direct access to the towns’ water and land based activities.

The Pinnacles which are adjacent to Cervantes normally attract 650,000 visitors per annum, making it Western Australia's most visited attraction.

The towns work together to take advantage of the Turquoise Coast’s natural water and land based assets and provide complementary tourism offers. The Lobster Shack at Cervantes alone attracted 300,000 visitors last year and served some 4,000 meals per week for coaches and 7,000 meals per week for day trippers.

Community futures workshops identified the opportunity to improve the tourism offer by extending the Turquoise Way Path from Jurien Bay to Cervantes to better link the towns. The strategy is to connect tourism facilities in each town with cycle based recreation opportunities and open up active sports tourism.

The Turquoise Way Path project is being developed as a key economic infrastructure to:

  1. Support existing and new products and services that increase visitation to existing lobster and tourism businesses, and;
  2. Open up major active sports tourism opportunities through a wider range of full sporting events such marathons and draw more events, participants and spectators.

Project Status

It is proposed to extend the Turquoise Way Path from Jurien Bay to Cervantes in a staged program of works as funding becomes available:

  • Stage 1 - is complete. The path was extended from Jurien Bay to the Hill River, a length of 7.4 kilometres at a cost of $1.96 million.
  • Stage 2 - is underway. It is the extension of the path with a bridge across the Hill River at an estimated cost of $450,000.
  • Stage 3 - is shovel ready. It is a proposal with the assistance of the Federal Government to extend the path 14.0 kilometres from the Hill River to Cervantes at an estimated cost of $3.3 million.

The Opportunity

To complete a vital component of a path linking Jurien Bay to Cervantes by multi-use path, boosting the towns’ economies and employment by:

  1. Providing for cycle-based recreation opportunities to increase visitation, capitalise on existing lobster and tourism businesses and facilitate new tourism product development.
  2. Opening up major Active Sports Tourism opportunities through a wider range of full sporting events such marathons and draw more events, participants and spectators.
  3. Enabling new accommodation opportunities of camping, and ‘glamping’.

Stage 3 Hill River to Cervantes

An inland route has been plotted and is shovel ready.  The route is designed to give a distinct experience while travelling along the path with spectacular inland views to Lesueur National Park and panoramic views of the Turquoise Coast.

The route also takes into account:

  • Avoid moving sand dunes and surface wetlands along the coast;
  • Avoid conflicts with 4WD vehicles that use existing coastal tracks for fishing along the coast;
  • Minimise clearing by using existing tracks and firebreaks
  • Be generally located on land under the control of the Shire of Dandaragan and the Ardross Group which fully supports the project.
  • The Shire of Dandaragan has completed a Foreshore Masterplan which will integrate the Turquoise Way Path into the Cervantes Foreshore.

Based on the Stage 1 Path, the estimated cost for completion from Hill River to Cervantes is $3.3 million (ex GST).

Active Sports Tourism

Sports Tourism is one of the most dynamically developing forms of tourism.

There are two primary types of sport event tourists; participants and spectators:

  • Participants travel to event destinations to play sport. They may be elite professionals or rank amateurs.
  • Sport tourist spectators are visitors who watch others participate in sport.

Jurien Bay and Cervantes provide a location for active sports north of Perth in a unique scenic environment adjacent to the Jurien Bay Marine Park and close to the Pinnacles.

The strategy is for sports participants and sport tourist spectators to help fill the off-season with visitations and expenditures.

Event concepts are being developed by the Events Group for the Jurien Bay Chamber of Commerce to utilise the Turquoise Way Path and:

  1. Attract participants and spectators to visit Jurien Bay and Cervantes, with an overnight stay.
  2. Present regional attractions to a broad audience, whether through visitation or through media coverage.
  3. Promote the region as appealing to visit and reside.
  4. Use and promote the Turquoise Way Path as a feature attraction of the town.

Investment Return and Jobs

The purpose of the Turquoise Way Path extension is the attraction of people and events that leverage the water and land based tourism advantages of Jurien Bay and Cervantes.

A program of events has been developed by the Jurien Bay Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Event Team. The Event Team has delivered iconic W.A. Events including the Rottnest Channel Swim, HBF Run for a Reason and the Busselton Festival of Triathlon.

The extension of the Turquoise Way Path from the Hill River to Cervantes will enable the running of mass participation events, including a proposed Multi-Sport Relay with a swim at Cervantes, a bike ride to Jurien Bay along the Turquoise Way Path and a paddle on the Jurien Bay foreshore. Over 2,000 participants and spectators are expected.
These events support businesses with restaurant visits, facility tours, and water based activities.

The committed and proposed events to be held on the Turquoise Way Path from Jurien Bay to the Hill River will generate $6.2 million per annum (based on $283 per person per night – City of Bunbury/Sports Marketing Australia).

It is estimated that 43 direct and indirect jobs will be created (in Western Australia a single tourism-related job is generated for every $141,608 generated - Transport and Tourism Forum; Tourism Supercharging Australia’s Future, 2018).

Information taken from Twin Towns Tourism: Jurien Bay and Cervantes - Supporting the Rock Lobster Industry's Turquoise Way Path: Jurien Bay to Cervantes prepared by Jurien Bay Joint Chambers Alliance and Jurien Bay Chamber of Commerce