At the height of this virus thingy, we had a sign on entrance roads into our town which warned that driving thru was allowed but stopping unless you were a local was banned. We have still got these signs, and we have had no covid cases in town. Our demographic, is 70% over 60 years of age So as a combined postal vote we all agreed in keeping non locals out of town. Thus we have been going about our business as usual abiding by the virus rules. So I was fishing and taking my dog for rides, and camping the odd night or two with in 8km of town. It saved my sanity, especially as I have PTSD and camping and being away from the rat race is part of my medical treatment plan. To me this virus has not really affected my normal daily activities, and I could say the same about the rest of the town, except maybe as the pub was closed, so the communal meetings and jovial get togethers were quashed. Now we are virtually back to normal. I know it was bad for a lot of other communities, we were just lucky that we live in a semi remote area, and only get thru traffic, heading somewhere else.
-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Saturday 6th of June 2020 01:38:09 PM
Wizardofoz said
07:15 AM Jun 8, 2020
I thought that nearly all country towns were COVID-19 free and the virus is mostly centred around the big cities, mind you, now the cities across Australia also seem to be near devoid of new cases as they are now very low an should continue to be so, unless these current wave of PROTESTS cause problems, however with such low numbers overall, even that seems to be a manageable risk...the next couple of weeks will tell the story, but without overseas tourists, we are starting to eradicate this awful virus.
-- Edited by Wizardofoz on Monday 8th of June 2020 07:17:24 AM
dogbox said
08:53 AM Jun 8, 2020
Wizardofoz wrote:
I thought that nearly all country towns were COVID-19 free and the virus is mostly centred around the big cities, mind you, now the cities across Australia also seem to be near devoid of new cases as they are now very low an should continue to be so, unless these current wave of PROTESTS cause problems, however with such low numbers overall, even that seems to be a manageable risk...the next couple of weeks will tell the story, but without overseas tourists, we are starting to eradicate this awful virus.
-- Edited by Wizardofoz on Monday 8th of June 2020 07:17:24 AM
until there is a vaccine we won't eradicate(control) the virus it will always be somewhere even with a vaccine we can only control the yearly flu and we can not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world forever. once travel restrictions are lifted in australia we will most likely see outbreaks which can be confined an controlled. the demonstrations might well test the system if we don't have any outbreaks in the next 2-4 weeks we could be good to open up the country a bit more quickly, or take a step back into imposing restrictions
BruDi said
12:35 PM Jun 8, 2020
And your town will welcome back visitors later? They may well keep driving right through.
Cupie said
01:43 PM Jun 8, 2020
BruDi wrote:
And your town will welcome back visitors later? They may well keep driving right through.
And will mexican Greynomads come back to Qld? Youbetcha.
I think that we all have short memories & that is what these unwelcoming towns can rely on. IMHO after perhaps a short time things will be back to normal WRT our stopping patterns.
Bicyclecamper said
01:50 PM Jun 8, 2020
We have a donation park on edge of town open for the whole virus thingy, for c.vanners to stay for the duration, and also for ones that needed to stay just by luck finding the place. We were more worried about city people coming thru for whatever reason, and stopping at the park for a meal, or using our Little general store, which at the time was the centre of the towns meeting place for all things about what the hell was going on in the outside world, and then going to the park or our still opened toilets. We have beautiful rest areas beside the river, that is usually overflowing with visitors, so we had to nip that in the bud quickly. The signs, have been removed, happened yesterday, just added signs about cleanliness and following the covid rules about social distancing.
Tony Bev said
02:32 PM Jun 8, 2020
I hold nothing against any town, which closed its facilities, to stop travellers staying there
No one knew enough about the Coronavirus, except that it could be deadly to older folks
Blind Freddy can see that small towns, do not have enough medical facilities, for normal times, let alone a pandemic
Perhaps (after we get the all clear), small towns, and travellers, may be more organised, for if/when another pandemic comes along
Perhaps travellers will have their own toilet, and grey water tank, in their RV, and could live off grid, providing they had access to potable water, and a dump point
Perhaps any towns with a dump point, will arrange for one person to come along, take your grocery order, and make deliveries
One of the reasons, I try and do a bit of clean up, is to try and show the locals, that I actually appreciate a free/donation/low cost camp
Cupie said
06:55 PM Jun 8, 2020
Tony ..
Yours is the attitude that we all aught to display.
I couldn't agree more with your comments. Well said.
darjak said
11:26 AM Jun 9, 2020
Guru Cupie X2
Mexicans complaining about other boarders being closed
BUT then when that idiot who flew from VICTORIA up to Bissie then Bundy
with conv19 its no wonder they are closed.
SouthernComfort said
08:40 AM Jun 11, 2020
darjak wrote:
Guru Cupie X2 Mexicans complaining about other boarders being closed BUT then when that idiot who flew from VICTORIA up to Bissie then Bundy with conv19 its no wonder they are closed.
Maybe you need to look at reality. The real complaints about border closures are coming from those many Qld business owners who depend entirely on tourism. Your premier evidently has some crazy view that the closures haven't affected business (she said this 2 days ago!), what planet does she live on? There is nowhere near enough population in Qld to keep those businesses afloat, no matter how much you all scurry around travelling intrastate. Many are already past the point of no return.
Time and thinking might be better invested in polishing the welcome mat for anyone wishing to visit from outside. It will be your saviour.
Cupie said
10:24 AM Jun 11, 2020
Tony ..
If we were to look at reality as you suggest then it is perhaps not the early resumption of interstate travel that we should focus on but the area of tourism that much of out tourism industry relies on .. INTERNATIONAL TOURISM. Do you want to rush to open borders (I just had to get that word in) to international tourists?
The strategy implemented in various degrees worldwide was largely about containing the spread of the virus so as not to overwhelm the ability of medical services to manage & to prevent complete, uncontrolled collapse of the economy.
Of course this is all about managing the cost to the economy but balanced against the welfare of the people. It is the role of Govt not just to support business/the economy, but also to protect/improve the welfare of its citizens. I'm sure that we all accept that this is the difficult problem that our elected representatives are struggling with & that the decisions made will not be universal. There is no right or wrong answer & what is right for one area may not be right for another. Some political parties say that it's all about the free market. Focus on fixing that & all else will follow. Those of another persuasion will say that it's all about the people, focus on what's best for them & all else will follow. Take your pick.
BTW it was only this morning that it was reported that if the British PM had moved one week earlier to implement lock down restrictions, then 20,000 lives would have been saved. Timing is of the essence.
I am extremely pleased with the decisions made by our Premier WRT travel & social restrictions.
As a side note, perhaps we could turn our attention to the business strategy of those businesses that are 100% exposed to the interstate/international tourism. Whilst this may in good times lead to even inefficient operations making good & sometimes excessive profits, it does lead them to extreme losses in times of downturns in that targeted sector. A more prudent business model would include an appropriate amount of diversification. Although this may mean less profit in good times it would provide more ability to survive times of downturn in specific areas. It's not just the fault of others, like the Politicians or regulators but a significant amount of 'blame' resides with the business operator. Whilst I'm not suggesting that there would have been no pain or business failures with greater diversification, but the depth of that pain may have been less. ( I was going to give an example here of how I worked with a relative in the structuring his business to manage risk v profit ... but I won't bore you with the details)
Its just another example of diversification, a principle that many of us apply to our investments (I hope). Oh, I suppose that we could think about the predicament that we find ourselves in with our reliance on China. But I won't go even further off topic hey?
Now I've got that off my chest, it's time to get out in the garden & attend to the ever present list of jobs about the house. Oops, it's 10.30 & I haven't had breakfast!! Perhaps Brunch is in order. LOL
SouthernComfort said
06:04 PM Jun 11, 2020
Hi Cupie,
Unfortunately, I think you've misunderstood what I'm saying.
With respect, I don't have the time or inclination to debate business diversification or risk management strategies here, however I will say that in my (recently retired) professional life as a business consultant and development strategist, I understand business modeling pretty well. I worked in both corporate and small business environments and also taught business disciplines formally. Tourism is one of several industries I worked very closely with.
It isn't easy for many small businesses to diversify effectively, even when conditions might be regarded as 'normal'. Many small business owners and operators possess a skill or experience in a particular field, often the basis on which they establish their business in the first place (e.g. a chef might establish or buy a restaurant, but won't necessarily possess wider skills to enter something different). Many other operators do have good diversification ratios, and it usually means they can risk-manage the loss of a particular market segment and try to replace it with another, or develop by continuing to build new markets to patronize their product/business. Few can stray far from their core business though. In these unprecedented times, the tourism sector has had nearly all of its markets torn away. To use the Qld example, all the tourism operators are left with is local business - and that just isn't enough for most, you have a small population that isn't enough to go around. No one is coming in from anywhere and your premier just doesn't seem to see the impact on the state's businesses and the economy.
I didn't mention international tourism specifically, no matter how much you need them, I certainly don't advocate rushing to open the borders. We all know that our international borders won't open for some considerable time.
Given how the infections are trending, personally I believe it is time to reopen state borders and get some business flowing again. Covid is something new that we all have to learn to live with, it should be about managing the risk rather than pretending we can totally eliminate it. The latter is not going to happen, at least not until a vaccine is developed and Australia can't continue in a vacuum indefinitely.
At least getting domestic tourism moving again means you start oiling the wheels of the industry on which so many Queenslanders (and other states) are dependent. Your 'Mexican' market is an important part of that, unfortunately though they are a people which seem to be regarded as a nuisance by some Queenslanders (I'm still yet to figure out why!), even the silly comments that appear in here from time to time aren't exactly welcoming! Anyhow, making all-comers feel welcome will be good for business, it wont save all but it's a step in the right direction.
I'm pleased for you that you feel your premier's decisions have been the right ones for you. And no, let's not talk about our reliance on China, that's a different topic, and something we in Vic are likely to be up against more than most if our govt. gets their way.
Cupie said
07:11 PM Jun 11, 2020
Thanks Tony for your well constructed & considerate response.
I am continually impressed at the range & depth knowledge and experience of forum members & include you in that cohort.
For my part, my expertise is rapidly diminishing as I age & am more removed from working life .. it's some 20 years since I retired. Perhaps some of my views are dated. Given my absence from active involvement, I of course no longer have the current business competencies /go-words/ terminology at my command and rely mainly on first principles to form & express my views.
I'm not sure where I misunderstood your post but have no argument with much of what you have said in reply.
Notwithstanding, I am convinced that we are on the right path to move out of the first phase of this pandemic & aught to hasten slowly to protect people over profit in the short term. One or two weeks may just be as important to us as it may have been to the British people.
BTW most of we Queenslanders use the term 'Mexicans' in a friendly way. We loves ya all!! My best friend was a Mexican. LOL
At the height of this virus thingy, we had a sign on entrance roads into our town which warned that driving thru was allowed but stopping unless you were a local was banned. We have still got these signs, and we have had no covid cases in town. Our demographic, is 70% over 60 years of age So as a combined postal vote we all agreed in keeping non locals out of town. Thus we have been going about our business as usual abiding by the virus rules. So I was fishing and taking my dog for rides, and camping the odd night or two with in 8km of town. It saved my sanity, especially as I have PTSD and camping and being away from the rat race is part of my medical treatment plan. To me this virus has not really affected my normal daily activities, and I could say the same about the rest of the town, except maybe as the pub was closed, so the communal meetings and jovial get togethers were quashed. Now we are virtually back to normal. I know it was bad for a lot of other communities, we were just lucky that we live in a semi remote area, and only get thru traffic, heading somewhere else.
-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Saturday 6th of June 2020 01:38:09 PM
I thought that nearly all country towns were COVID-19 free and the virus is mostly centred around the big cities, mind you, now the cities across Australia also seem to be near devoid of new cases as they are now very low an should continue to be so, unless these current wave of PROTESTS cause problems, however with such low numbers overall, even that seems to be a manageable risk...the next couple of weeks will tell the story, but without overseas tourists, we are starting to eradicate this awful virus.
-- Edited by Wizardofoz on Monday 8th of June 2020 07:17:24 AM
until there is a vaccine we won't eradicate(control) the virus it will always be somewhere even with a vaccine we can only control the yearly flu and we can not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world forever. once travel restrictions are lifted in australia we will most likely see outbreaks which can be confined an controlled. the demonstrations might well test the system if we don't have any outbreaks in the next 2-4 weeks we could be good to open up the country a bit more quickly, or take a step back into imposing restrictions
And will mexican Greynomads come back to Qld? Youbetcha.
I think that we all have short memories & that is what these unwelcoming towns can rely on. IMHO after perhaps a short time things will be back to normal WRT our stopping patterns.
No one knew enough about the Coronavirus, except that it could be deadly to older folks
Blind Freddy can see that small towns, do not have enough medical facilities, for normal times, let alone a pandemic
Perhaps (after we get the all clear), small towns, and travellers, may be more organised, for if/when another pandemic comes along
Perhaps travellers will have their own toilet, and grey water tank, in their RV, and could live off grid, providing they had access to potable water, and a dump point
Perhaps any towns with a dump point, will arrange for one person to come along, take your grocery order, and make deliveries
One of the reasons, I try and do a bit of clean up, is to try and show the locals, that I actually appreciate a free/donation/low cost camp
Tony ..
Yours is the attitude that we all aught to display.
I couldn't agree more with your comments. Well said.
Mexicans complaining about other boarders being closed
BUT then when that idiot who flew from VICTORIA up to Bissie then Bundy
with conv19 its no wonder they are closed.
Maybe you need to look at reality. The real complaints about border closures are coming from those many Qld business owners who depend entirely on tourism. Your premier evidently has some crazy view that the closures haven't affected business (she said this 2 days ago!), what planet does she live on? There is nowhere near enough population in Qld to keep those businesses afloat, no matter how much you all scurry around travelling intrastate. Many are already past the point of no return.
Time and thinking might be better invested in polishing the welcome mat for anyone wishing to visit from outside. It will be your saviour.
Tony ..
If we were to look at reality as you suggest then it is perhaps not the early resumption of interstate travel that we should focus on but the area of tourism that much of out tourism industry relies on .. INTERNATIONAL TOURISM. Do you want to rush to open borders (I just had to get that word in) to international tourists?
The strategy implemented in various degrees worldwide was largely about containing the spread of the virus so as not to overwhelm the ability of medical services to manage & to prevent complete, uncontrolled collapse of the economy.
Of course this is all about managing the cost to the economy but balanced against the welfare of the people. It is the role of Govt not just to support business/the economy, but also to protect/improve the welfare of its citizens. I'm sure that we all accept that this is the difficult problem that our elected representatives are struggling with & that the decisions made will not be universal. There is no right or wrong answer & what is right for one area may not be right for another. Some political parties say that it's all about the free market. Focus on fixing that & all else will follow. Those of another persuasion will say that it's all about the people, focus on what's best for them & all else will follow. Take your pick.
BTW it was only this morning that it was reported that if the British PM had moved one week earlier to implement lock down restrictions, then 20,000 lives would have been saved. Timing is of the essence.
I am extremely pleased with the decisions made by our Premier WRT travel & social restrictions.
As a side note, perhaps we could turn our attention to the business strategy of those businesses that are 100% exposed to the interstate/international tourism. Whilst this may in good times lead to even inefficient operations making good & sometimes excessive profits, it does lead them to extreme losses in times of downturns in that targeted sector. A more prudent business model would include an appropriate amount of diversification. Although this may mean less profit in good times it would provide more ability to survive times of downturn in specific areas. It's not just the fault of others, like the Politicians or regulators but a significant amount of 'blame' resides with the business operator. Whilst I'm not suggesting that there would have been no pain or business failures with greater diversification, but the depth of that pain may have been less. ( I was going to give an example here of how I worked with a relative in the structuring his business to manage risk v profit ... but I won't bore you with the details)
Its just another example of diversification, a principle that many of us apply to our investments (I hope). Oh, I suppose that we could think about the predicament that we find ourselves in with our reliance on China. But I won't go even further off topic hey?
Now I've got that off my chest, it's time to get out in the garden & attend to the ever present list of jobs about the house. Oops, it's 10.30 & I haven't had breakfast!! Perhaps Brunch is in order. LOL
Unfortunately, I think you've misunderstood what I'm saying.
With respect, I don't have the time or inclination to debate business diversification or risk management strategies here, however I will say that in my (recently retired) professional life as a business consultant and development strategist, I understand business modeling pretty well. I worked in both corporate and small business environments and also taught business disciplines formally. Tourism is one of several industries I worked very closely with.
It isn't easy for many small businesses to diversify effectively, even when conditions might be regarded as 'normal'. Many small business owners and operators possess a skill or experience in a particular field, often the basis on which they establish their business in the first place (e.g. a chef might establish or buy a restaurant, but won't necessarily possess wider skills to enter something different). Many other operators do have good diversification ratios, and it usually means they can risk-manage the loss of a particular market segment and try to replace it with another, or develop by continuing to build new markets to patronize their product/business. Few can stray far from their core business though. In these unprecedented times, the tourism sector has had nearly all of its markets torn away. To use the Qld example, all the tourism operators are left with is local business - and that just isn't enough for most, you have a small population that isn't enough to go around. No one is coming in from anywhere and your premier just doesn't seem to see the impact on the state's businesses and the economy.
I didn't mention international tourism specifically, no matter how much you need them, I certainly don't advocate rushing to open the borders. We all know that our international borders won't open for some considerable time.
Given how the infections are trending, personally I believe it is time to reopen state borders and get some business flowing again. Covid is something new that we all have to learn to live with, it should be about managing the risk rather than pretending we can totally eliminate it. The latter is not going to happen, at least not until a vaccine is developed and Australia can't continue in a vacuum indefinitely.
At least getting domestic tourism moving again means you start oiling the wheels of the industry on which so many Queenslanders (and other states) are dependent. Your 'Mexican' market is an important part of that, unfortunately though they are a people which seem to be regarded as a nuisance by some Queenslanders (I'm still yet to figure out why!), even the silly comments that appear in here from time to time aren't exactly welcoming! Anyhow, making all-comers feel welcome will be good for business, it wont save all but it's a step in the right direction.
I'm pleased for you that you feel your premier's decisions have been the right ones for you. And no, let's not talk about our reliance on China, that's a different topic, and something we in Vic are likely to be up against more than most if our govt. gets their way.
Thanks Tony for your well constructed & considerate response.
I am continually impressed at the range & depth knowledge and experience of forum members & include you in that cohort.
For my part, my expertise is rapidly diminishing as I age & am more removed from working life .. it's some 20 years since I retired. Perhaps some of my views are dated. Given my absence from active involvement, I of course no longer have the current business competencies /go-words/ terminology at my command and rely mainly on first principles to form & express my views.
I'm not sure where I misunderstood your post but have no argument with much of what you have said in reply.
Notwithstanding, I am convinced that we are on the right path to move out of the first phase of this pandemic & aught to hasten slowly to protect people over profit in the short term. One or two weeks may just be as important to us as it may have been to the British people.
BTW most of we Queenslanders use the term 'Mexicans' in a friendly way. We loves ya all!! My best friend was a Mexican. LOL