Finally enjoying an eat in option
Local towns including Bunyip and Garfield who were saddled with metropolitan COVID-19 restrictions, are abuzz once again, with restrictions lifted on restaurants and retail outlets last week.
Hospitality re-open from 11.59pm Tuesday, with strict COVID plans in place and a maximum of 20 people inside and 50 outside.
For the first time since July, locals were able to sit down and enjoy a meal or a coffee together, much to the delight of many taking up the opportunity in the sunny conditions.
Brewsters Food Store and Café, Garfield was one place that was a hive of activity, with owner Greg Howson happy to see people back enjoying time together.
“You get your community back with this. It has been busier but that could also be attributed to the sun and the sunshine creates a vibrancy, but I think we have been busier today.
“It’s more about the festivity of the town, it’s great to see mums with their kids being able to get a coffee and sit down,” Mr Howson said.
With the weather warming up, Greg felt the town could flick the switch in the lead up towards Christmas and hopefully see some normality return.
Garfield North residents Peter and Lorris Jones met friends Fred and Rose Thompson for breakfast at Brewster’s, saying it was the first time they had been able to sit down and catch up in months.
Locals Linda Evans and Claire Power were also able to sit inside the café and enjoy a meal together for the first time since July, saying it was wonderful to be back.
Down the road in Bunyip it was much the same, with Biddy Martha’s finally welcoming some patrons inside to enjoy their new shopfront.
Owner Gavin Saunders said it was fantastic to open the shop to customers once again after a long stretch of takeaway only.
“We haven’t closed at all during this time for takeaway, we haven’t been smashed today but people have been able to sit outside and enjoy the sun,” he said.
Biddy Martha’s coffee window was a huge hit across town during the lockdown, with the shop seeing plenty of support from locals.
A Bunyip local, Gavin only ventured outside of town a few times during the lockdown and said it really hit home for him after seeing another area.
“Until the last couple of weeks I didn’t leave the Bunyip bubble, so I didn’t see it. I had to go to Pakenham a couple of weeks ago and that’s what really hit home for me,” he said.
The business had just moved into a new building before being forced into takeaway only and Gavin is excited to see its potential once restrictions are eased further and more people are permitted to visit.
The ring of steel which has divided towns in Cardinia Shire from the rest of Gippsland will be lifted on November 8 allowing free movement across the state for the first time since the end of July.