Despite Melbourne residents not being allowed into regional Victoria, Daylesford businesses reported some level of visitation from city dwellers over the Queen's Birthday long weekend.
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On what could be the last weekend the invisible barrier separating regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne is in place, pending the further easing of restrictions by the state government, there was almost a sense that Daylesford had benefited from Melbourne visitation.
A number of Daylesford traders were contacted and many declined to comment on the record about whether they had been forced to turn away business from Melburnians.
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One cafe said it had an awareness there had been significant visitation from Melbourne residents over the weekend.
Harvest Cafe was one business to turn away customers who could not prove they lived in regional Victoria.
Owner Laura Camm said Melbourne visitation was apparent but not blatant.
"I'm pretty confident people from Melbourne were coming in for takeaway and to shop around town. Personally, I didn't see anyone that said they were from Melbourne," she said.
Ms Camm said the overall reaction to the ID checking process was positive.
"I think everyone's been really understanding and accepting. Most people are ready to show their ID. As far as other businesses go, I wouldn't know," she said.
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"It's just been a weird week with the big storm, it's all very strange."
Unlike hospitality businesses, retailers were not under the same obligation to check the addresses of customers.
The Amazing Mill Markets manager Helen Watson said the shop had strong trading across the weekend.
"Saturday was a little quieter than usual but Monday was really busy so it was really strong for just regional visitors," she said.
"Technically we don't have to check ID apart from our cafe, but everyone has to scan the QR code. We had someone manning the door and checking if they were signing in and we didn't have any problem at all.
"We've had one incident with a Melbourne person trying to go into the cafe and they were turned away. That was just one incident and that was before the weekend anyway."
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