A MILDURA caravan park manager says it is difficult to gauge whether many people are travelling from Melbourne to Mildura for the school holidays.
The Palms Caravan Park managers Jane and Allan Hill have experienced a decline in the number of people using their services since COVID-19 restrictions were put in place.
But, just as things were starting to improve, cases of the virus again spiked in Melbourne.
Mrs Hill said most of the customers they were seeing were grey nomads who had travelled from Broken Hill or Echuca.
She said it would be difficult to tell whether people were travelling from areas of Melbourne strongly impacted by the virus.
“It’s a pretty hard one,” she said.
“You can ask where they come from and if they’re honest they’ll tell you.”
Mrs Hill speculated that if someone was travelling from one of Melbourne’s hardest-hit suburbs they may not been keen to disclose this information.
Earlier this week, news surfaced that Melburnians were being denied accommodation at certain caravan parks due to COVID-19 fears.
Some caravan parks along the Great Ocean Road have now back-flipped on this decision, according to news.com.au, and are allowing people from suburbs such as Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin to retain their accommodation bookings.
According to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) website, there are no restrictions on statewide travel and people can stay in tourist accommodation for as long as they would like.
The DHHS website also indicates communal facilities such as kitchens, showers and toilets are now open.
Mrs Hill said regular cleaning of communal services took place at the Palms Caravan Park.
She said the couple were staying optimistic about the current restrictions and border lockdowns.
“Well, what can you do?” she said.
“You’ve just got to go with the flow. It’d be great if the borders did reopen, we’d probably get some more people.”
The SA border is scheduled to reopen on July 20 but if Victoria does not regain control of the virus this is unlikely to happen.
In the meantime, Mr and Mrs Hill are happy to still have their permanent residents and two to three caravans coming to the park each night.
“We’re hoping (the SA border) will reopen,” Mrs Hill said.
“But every state has a duty of care to look after their state.”
For more information on travel and restrictions in Victoria, visit www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/travel-restrictions-covid-19.
