From an outright ban to some limits to let them be, opinions varied at Pasley Street boat ramp, Bundalong, this week as holiday makers considered the merits of wake boats.

Regular visitors over 15 years James Parsonson, of Prahran, and Pakenham’s Sam Werner were disappointed by the current proposal for a three-year trial ban of high wash activities on this Murray River section.

“I’m pretty sure if they brought it in and banned it, we’d be gone and I’m sure there’d be a lot of others,” Mr Werner said.

“A lot of people come up here for that sole reason, this is their home away from home.

“You take that away from them and what reason have they got to come here?”

Mr Parsonson said he felt wake surfing belonged in lakes but wakeboarding shouldn’t be restricted in the river.

“If everyone’s careful and has a bit of etiquette, I don’t see it being a problem,” he said.

“I think surfing’s probably causing the bigger issue, not so much erosion, but more danger to other boats.

“I don’t agree with wake surfing upstream.”

Mr Parsonson believed river flow, flooding and vegetation change contributed more to erosion than wake boats.

“The banks fill up with water, they get heavy, they drop the water, all of a sudden the banks fall in, don't they,” he said.

“When trees get pulled out, banks aren’t being held together anymore.”

Corowa’s John Bookluck said wake surfing should be done on bigger lakes given the size of the waves created.

“It is also hard too for smaller boats to deal with, the waves come over and sink tinnies and other boats,” he said.

“So it’s not just erosion, it’s general fun, it’s a courtesy thing as well.”

Mr Bookluck said some form of governance or zoning could improve the situation.

“Probably for everyone to save face, they could trial a period and an area and just see how it goes,” he said.

“I think it’s one of those areas where people think a small number of people can upset it for everyone.” 

Ian Barnes, of Eltham, saw no problem with the wake boats, but Melbourne’s Neil Gates labelled them “ridiculous”.

“They fill them up with water, it makes all the water splash on everyone,” he said.

“It affects everyone, bounces everyone’s boats … people can’t swim, I don’t like them.”

While Mr Gates would welcome a ban, Kilmore holiday maker Jayne Muldoon thought that would be a shame.

“I think it’s just an excuse for some people to get boats off the water,” she said.

“And then it just makes you wonder where it would stop, too.”

The Muldoons recently bought a local holiday house.

“Because we’ve got a property our son bought a wake boat and what’s going to happen?” she wondered.

“They’re all staying at the caravan park and they’re all eating at the pub and that’s not going to be the case.

“The poor old town of Bundalong’s just going to be deserted because everyone will go somewhere else.”

With Christmas done but holidays ahead, the mood along the Murray River at Bundalong was relaxed this week.

Relaxed, but not still – the Pasley Street boat ramp saw plenty of activity as groups of friends and family members launched boats into the water at regular intervals on a warm and sunny day.

In the car park, about 25 vehicles with trailers sat waiting for their owners’ return with half a dozen other cars parked there as well.

The McAuliffe family, of Geelong, holidaying as a group of about 12, had their boat and jet ski on the water.

They arrived on Boxing Day for their first time at Bundalong, their usual destination being Lake Mulwala.

Liz and Judith McAuliffe hadn’t heard about plans to restrict some high wash water sports in this section but immediately knew what they would do if such a trial was introduced.

“Well, we’d just go somewhere else,” Liz said.

“We’re not put out by it, but regulars here might be.”

“We’d just go to the lake, like everyone else probably would,” Judith added.

Feedback on the draft Murray River erosion management plan between Corowa and Ovens River will be collected until February 28.

Created by a committee led by NSW Roads and Maritime Services and Murray Darling Basin Authoriy, the plan aims to promote responsible and equitable enjoyment of the river by local communities and tourists.