Fowles Wine escapes lockdown by mere metres in Avenel
Through a stroke of luck, this regional winery is free from Victoria’s strict new lockdown restrictions. But it was just mere metres from a complete shutdown.
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Cheers to escaping strict new lockdowns — a regional winery has been saved from shutdown orders by mere metres.
Avenel winery Fowles Wine falls on the lucky side of the Hume Highway, the border of Mitchell Shire now under restrictions.
“We’re delighted to be free,” owner Matt Fowles said.
The venue, which serves as a meeting point for people between Shepparton, Albury and Melbourne, is open for business thanks to being situated just 100 metres into Strathbogie Shire.
With just two recorded coronavirus cases in their part of the state since the pandemic began, Mr Fowles was relieved the latest restrictions wouldn’t tar all Victorians with the one brush and force everyone into devastating closures.
“For our local population, people have been taking it really seriously,” he said.
But with so many visitors from Melbourne, he said the city shutdown was gut-wrenching with “a huge amount of bookings cancelled”.
The sprawling venue, with freshly landscaped outdoor dining and a chic new restaurant, had just finished mass renovations before the first lockdown.
Now, it’s preparing for another hit, though locals night on Fridays is still set to be a roaring success.
Mr Fowles and wife Luise said they looked forward to “partying for a decade” when the threat of the virus became a mere memory.
“We’ll have the post-pandemic party of the century,” Mrs Fowles said, “a new roaring ’20s”.
But for now, a smaller celebration with up to 20 local diners will have to do.
Meanwhile in the west of Melbourne, Little River neighbours Colin Cotter and Graeme Parish share the same postcode, the same township and drink at the same pub – but will be subject to vastly different coronavirus restrictions for the next six weeks.
The Rothwell Bridge connects and now divides the town – with the majority of its approximately 1300 residents living in the Melbourne local government area of Wyndham, while 174 Little River properties are registered in the City of Greater Geelong.
For this reason, residents living on the north side of the river will only be allowed to leave their home for four essential reasons, while those on the other side will have greater freedoms.
Mr Cotter, a Little River resident of 52 years, said the “country town” had never been physically divided before.
Mr Parish, who lives on the Greater Geelong side of the town, said locals wanted to know how the rules would impact them and their ability to move through their town.
It is understood police will have random checkpoints set up across government area borders.
The City of Wyndham – with 120 active coronavirus cases – is classed as a hotspot, while the City of Greater Geelong had just two active cases as of Wednesday.
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