The country of Victoria is coming back to life after the...

Posted

October 24, 2020 6:00:45 am

The regional Victoria has become a country of its own – enclosed by state borders and Melbourne’s quarantine zone, different rules apply here. And people make the most of it.

Living under the toughest coronavirus restrictions in the country brought Victoria’s tourist towns to a standstill.

But when the restrictions eased, local Victorians were free to roam their own backyard.

Close the border and Echuca will be silent.

Victoria’s tight coronavirus restrictions and NSW’s first-time border closure for the first time in 100 years resulted in a quiet fall across the normally busy Murray River.

On land, the formation of a winding traffic line waiting to get into NSW became a daily ritual in the small town.

For people like Kathyrn Mackenzie, who lives in NSW and works in Victoria, it made life more complicated.

“For many local residents who called Echuca Moama’s home, they either had to get permission to go across the river or they didn’t make the trip,” she said.

“There are divided families… only our daily lives are affected in every way, from school to the isolation of the elderly.

“It was a very, very difficult time.”

But a lifeline was thrown to the border communities when the NSW government allowed regional Victorians to use the river.

“We were thrilled. In fact, I dropped a tear.

“It was just so magical to have our paddle steamers. As you can hear, they chug along, they whistle – that’s why we live here. ”

It’s not just people who have felt the loneliness of the lockdown – animals at Halls Gap Zoo have been without visitors for months.

Manager Mark Treweek says the company survived on government grants for animal feed and maintenance.

“The rhinoceros loves a good pat. When we closed those four months, the zookeepers had the fun of being able to spend a little more time with them.

“But now that the people are back, you can see that it’s making itself felt in them.”

The last week of the last school break was one of the busiest at the zoo.

“It was just phenomenal. Local Victorians stepping out and seeing their local tourist attractions were amazing. So it’s good to have them outside.

“We can only thank everyone who comes to visit, because it just keeps us going and helps to protect and educate people about the animals.

“We would not survive without the visitors.”

But other tourist hotspots were much quieter than usual.

Jenni Hider-Smith’s trailer park in the seaside town of Port Fairy had plenty of free space for the holidays.

Before the long weekend in the Melbourne Cup, bookings were also much lower.

But she used the extra downtime to schedule a daily appointment with friend Jackie for a swim in the ocean.

“It’s a nice thing to be able to do that.

“I think we will look back on this as a very special time because we normally wouldn’t.”

When the Melburnians were released from the initial lockdown, it didn’t take long for the coronavirus to make its way to Port Fairy.

Now Ms. Hider-Smith says the city is ready to welcome people again, but she happily waits until it’s safe.

“I’m sure we would be busier if Melbourne were open, but it’s fine.

“We’d rather keep it so we can get it normal later.”

An employee at Vicki Hetheringtons Salon in Port Fairy has caught COVID-19 following an outbreak in the nearby town of Warrnambool.

“There were just so many fears – the fear of passing it on to other employees, the fear of passing it on to our customers, and possibly the worst fear it would spread to our community,” she said.

“We have an aging community in Port Fairy and just the thought of this virus entering our city was just terrible.”

Ms. Hetherington and her staff waited anxiously in quarantine and were relieved when there was no further transmission.

The virus did not spread to the community.

But it made the whole city more careful about welcoming people back.

“I’m more than happy to see people back in the salon if they’re honest with us,” said Ms. Hetherington.

“We just want honesty, or if you are not doing well please don’t come in.

“Please do the right thing in small regional towns.”

The Alpine region of Victoria has gone without the hundreds of thousands of visitors who typically flock to the snow every winter.

Mounty Beauty was evacuated in January due to bush fires – it was then locked in March.

And it was locked again at the end of July.

Mardi Lucas poured the last drinks in the Settler’s Tavern in June.

She is confident that her regulars will return to her other business (vacation rental) as soon as possible.

But right now, the stress of running a pub means that they’ll bring it to market after 15 years.

“We haven’t had any income for nine months. How are we going to pay our bills?

“But this is not a fire sale – in lockdown I just reevaluated what I wanted to do and decided I wanted more downtime.

“I’ve been here for 15 years and that’s a long time without weekends.

“I see that the country regions, especially our region, are growing afterwards.”

After shipping their products to Melbourne for 17 years, Rod and Meg Blake called to try their luck closer to home.

Now every Tuesday a line of cars build up at their farm gate near Halls Gap on the eastern slopes of the Grampians.

Some customers drive more than 150 kilometers to pick up their boxes of vegetables.

“Now they’re from Portland, Horsham, Dimboola,” said Meg.

“Yes, I am impressed. That just tells me we’re doing a good job. ”

What they feared most about giving up their trips to Melbourne farmers markets was loss of social interaction, but that is what they kept in check at their own farm gate.

“For me, the main thing is to have some fun with people anyway, and they loved it,” Rod said.

“And yes, it was difficult. We left a lot of good friends in Melbourne. But I didn’t see the last one. ”

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Subjects:

Lockdown, Covid-19, rural tourism, regional, regional development, travel and tourism, tourism, people, Hafenfee-3284, Hallenlücke-3381, Echuca-3564, Mount-Beauty-3699