Coffee, haircuts and beers as Bunyip and Garfield open

Bunyip and Garfield emerged from lockdown on Friday which meant restaurants, pubs, and cafes were allowed to open their doors to vaccinated customers.

The five rules to leave home were abolished for metropolitan residents, and those in Cardinia Shire took the first step to a “COVID normal” world.

At the Garfield Hotel, beers were poured immediately after opening on Friday.

“It's better than good, it's fantastic, it's good to have a bit of normality again,” manager Jarred Gillespie said.

The pub now plans to have 60 people dine indoors, and 100 dine outside throughout the duration of each day. There is a density limit of 20 people for indoor venues and 50 people for outdoor venues in metropolitan Melbourne if vaccination status is being checked.

“The support from the community has just been unbelievable since the announcements, we’ve just been inundated with phone calls so we’re all booked out for lunch and dinners which is fantastic,” Mr Gillespie said.

But Cardinia residents will have to wait until the next milestone before travelling down the highway to Baw Baw Shire. The local government areas are still split between metro and regional restrictions, but will unite this Friday at the 80 per cent fully vaccinated threshold.

Little Miss Hangry café owners said they’ve had to turn back customers from regional Victoria, who have been trying to book over the phone.

“Because they’re over the border they can’t book in which is hard because we’ve become like a meeting point, halfway between Regional and Metro,” co-owner Kristin Ruddell said.

Co-owner Mitchell Johnstone said a large portion of their customers are from Drouin alone, so they’re looking forward to the two regions uniting.

“Then we can have more people inside and we can allow our bookings to open up more, right now we’re just taking indoor bookings because we don’t have enough outdoor coverage,” Johnstone said.

Garfield Hair Salon owner Melinda Catchpole said it was “nerve-wracking” opening her business again.

“It’s just the unknown I suppose in being locked up and how it’s all going to run from here on,” she said.

Ms Catchpole fears her business could become an exposure site, and it was up to herself and her clients to do the right thing.

“Chances are it’s going to happen in the next couple of weeks with the numbers like they are, and everything opening, it’s just part of it, part of the reality,” she said.

One of her clients was Emma Dinnie, who waited four months to get a haircut and was one of the first back in the salon.

“It’s awesome…It’s a very good feeling just to get back and do something normal, back to normal life,” she said.

And on the street in Garfield, many were seated outside cafes enjoying the sunshine.

“Yeah we’re having a coffee, we had walked down and got takeaway but it’s not the same” Geoff McCrae said.

“And you get to see people that you haven’t seen for a while, it’s great,” Dianne McCrae said.

Without the 5 reasons to leave home, the couple are excited to visit their grandchildren in Cranbourne.

But the Victorian Government’s vaccine mandate for hospitality workers implemented two days before the threshold has caused some businesses to make difficult decisions.

The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Melina Bath said the move had created enormous turmoil, and she is calling on the Andrews Government to urgently reinstate the original timeline for hospitality workers.

“Businesses owners face an unenviable decision of moving to the 70 per cent increase patron limits or standing down employees.

“To give employers and employees a mere 48 hours’ notice to be fully vaccinated shows absolute arrogance and contempt for the hospitality industry,” Ms Bath said.