A beachside holiday town on the New South Wales Mid North Coast has become so busy this summer, visitors are being asked to stay away.
Seal Rocks is a small coastal village about three hours north of Sydney with just one road in and out.
Surrounded by the Myall Lakes National Park, the town is a popular holiday spot.
But a huge influx of visitors this season and heavy traffic conditions on Seal Rocks Road have forced the MidCoast Council to issue a warning due to safety concerns.
"Please consider exploring other parts of our region over the coming days, as the amount of people in Seal Rocks is causing traffic and emergency access hazards," a council spokesperson said on Wednesday.
MidCoast Council's director of liveable communities, Paul De Szell, said only locals and those with accommodation bookings should go to the area.
"We had issues particularly last year where we were so congested we had a gridlock situation," Mr De Szell said.
"We couldn't get emergency vehicles in there, we couldn't get waste trucks in there, and we don't want it to escalate to that point again."
Mr De Szell said the town's limited parking bays were often full, so visitors parked their cars illegally along the main road.
"If people park on both sides of the road it [can] actually … reduce it to less than one lane so people then can't get in or out," he said.
Mr De Szell said council rangers were onsite moving people along and issuing fines for illegal parking.
He said other areas nearby were also experiencing visitor congestion, including Pacific Palms about half an hour north.
"We also have issues with people who are camping unlawfully … from Harrington and Crowdy Head in the north, all the way down to Tea Gardens," he said.
Community concern
The MidCoast Council's announcement on social media prompted several comments criticising the town's infrastructure and road access, as well as the council's recent tourism campaign promoting the Barrington Coast.
In response, Mr De Szell said the road had been upgraded in the past for residents and emergency services.
He said the tourism advertisements were aimed at off-season visitors.
Kimberley Hannaford, a worker at the town's only store, said the conditions were "becoming steadily worse every holiday season".
"The road is the only road in and out of town," she said.
"It is barely wide enough for two cars to pass at one time anyway, and now we've got people parking along the foreshore.
"My parents are 80 and they're basically just hiding away in the house, they don't go out because there's just too many people around."
Ms Hannaford said she was concerned about the road's condition, after a recent geotechnical study found sections of Seal Rocks Road and the adjoining Kinka Road were at risk of coastal erosion and sea level rise by 2060.
"They've got motorhomes and caravans parked along there, which is degrading the road even further," she said.
Local campground manager John Brown said some guests reported traffic delays of 30 minutes earlier this week.
"This year is the busiest season I've seen since COVID happened, coupled with all the advertisement that's happened over the last couple of years," he said.
However, Mr Brown said he was "a bit shocked" by the council's announcement urging visitors to stay away.
"As a business owner, you don't want your local council telling people not to go to somewhere you run a business," he said.
"I definitely think there needs to be a reduction in the number of people that come to Seal Rocks over the summer time, but how you manage that is a hard thing."
