June 25, 2021
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Call of the wild Two Lara born-and-bred bandicoots have joined a quest to reintroduce their species – extinct in the wild – to Victoria. Serendip Sanctuary ranger Brandon Hallas helped look after the joeys, a male and female, at the wildlife park for several months. “I’m pretty privileged to work at a site like this,” the 26-year-old said. “The female was a lot more jumpy and flighty. The male was a bit more relaxed – every time we caught him he was happy to be taken into the bag and have his health checked.” Only about 1000 eastern barred bandicoots remain in captivity, with none left in the wild, according to Brandon. But last Wednesday he joined rangers from across Victoria releasing 20, including the Lara pair, at the Grampians under the watchful eye of two specially-trained protection dogs. “It’s bitter-sweet. We spent a lot of time raising and caring for those animals,” he said. “But hopefully the next time you see the eastern barred bandicoot, you’ll see it in the wild.”
Brandon Hallas holds an eastern barred bandicoot joey. (Pictures: Supplied)
Luke Voogt
Holiday bookings boom By Luke Voogt Geelong and Bellarine caravan parks have experienced a surge in bookings ahead of COVID-19 restrictions easing today, following the “worst” lockdown for local tourism yet. “The school holidays are looking good, and now they’ve shut New South Wales, they’re looking even better,” said Lorraine Golightly, owner-operator of BIG4 Beacon Resort. “We’ll be full for the school holidays … This first weekend is normally quiet but that’s booked out too.”
But the boom would “absolutely not” make up for losses the businesses suffered from the “worst” and most recent lockdown, and subsequent restrictions, Ms Golightly said. “We were fully-booked for that weekend and we ended up with one reservation left. “It was an unknown of how long it would be for, so we kept the park fully-operational. I had to have my full reception staff here with people cancelling.” Geelong accommodation providers and restaurant and cafe owners could not continue to bear the brunt of continuous lockdowns after
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the ending of JopKeeper, Ms Golightly said. “There’s no government support now – this can’t keep going on.” Barwon River Holiday Park in Belmont suffered similar losses from recent restrictions. “The grants that have been available for us don’t even cover a quarter of our staff wages,” manager Kathryn Garrow said. “But we definitely noticed an increase in phone calls yesterday (Wednesday) following the announcement restrictions would ease further.” Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine
executive director Brett Ince said increases to home visitors today would encourage Melburnians to visit Geelong. The change in restrictions would also allow more and larger group bookings and have positive flow-on effects for Geelong cafes and restaurants, he said. Mr Ince said the Geelong Winter Shiraz Festival, the Bellarine Lighthouse Film Festival and Adventure Park’s new Winter Glow Festival would draw visitors, along with plans for a 85 per cent capacity crowd at Geelong Cats’ next home game at GMHBA Stadium.
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