20/08/2026
The case of two tourists becoming lost in the Dial Range is not an isolated incident — it is a reflection of how the area is being managed.
Visitors accessing the Dial Range from Cookes Road are getting into trouble all the time.
Thankfully, in this latest incident, the two tourists were found and escaped with only minor injuries. They were lucky.
We have seen numerous occasions where vehicles have become stuck, needed to be pulled out or simply had to turn around. We have had musicians, wedding ring bearers and tourists repeatedly misled by Google and Apple Maps and sent up this road.
The lack of signage throughout the Dial Range has been raised with Central Coast Council numerous times. Unfortunately, despite these concerns being repeatedly brought to their attention, little seems to change.
We have just seen $10 million spent on the northern access to the Dial Range, yet we can't seem to get one decent signpost or reliable, detailed information for tourists wanting to safely access the area.
The signage for walking tracks — and signage along the tracks themselves — is also virtually non-existent. People get lost in the Dial Range regularly.
When we purchased the farm 17 years ago, this road was suitable for vehicles like the one pictured. It was a functioning access road to some of the region's key tourism assets.
Today, however, maintenance and upgrading appear to occur when forestry requires access, rather than when tourism and visitors need it.
That is a huge missed opportunity.
This road could become a significant tourism route connecting Penguin, Riana and Gunns Plains, opening up access to the Dial Range and linking some of the region's most significant tourism assets.
Instead, we have a road that can effectively become a trap for visitors who are simply following their mapping apps.
More importantly, key tourism infrastructure should not be dependent on an organisation whose primary purpose is timber production and whose planning horizon is based around 80-year logging rotations.
The State Government continues to undervalue and poorly manage much of the Dial Range.
The solution is to consolidate the land tenure across the Dial Range and establish it as a properly managed reserve, with clear responsibility for roads, signage, walking tracks, visitor safety and tourism infrastructure.
Until that happens, incidents like this will continue.
The State Government and Central Coast Council continue to tell us that forestry and tourism can co-exist.
But the state of this road tells another story.
It reflects how the area is actually being valued and managed.
And perhaps there is another uncomfortable question: do they really want visitors seeing what is happening in the Dial Range?
The clear-fell logging that has occurred in the heart of the Dial is right beside where this vehicle became stuck. If visitors can't easily access the area, perhaps it becomes a case of out of sight, out of mind.
If we genuinely want the Dial Range to become a major tourism destination, we need to start managing it like one — not creating roads and access arrangements that effectively send tourists into traps like this.
