COVID-19 BLESSING FOR CARNARVON TOURISM BUSINESS

Carnarvon is generally thought of as a place to stop over for the night on your way to another destination or to fuel up and hit the road again says Inggarda woman and local tour operator Rennae Turner.

She has started a tourism company running cultural tours throughout the Yamatji region.

COVID-19 means people have not been able to travel overseas but instead lowered their eyes and hit a target closer to home making use of the time exploring their own backyard.

Ms Turner said, “People have now bought their families and people that have lived here in the past or worked in the Gascoyne are coming back and they never quite had the time like they do now.”

“I know it sounds horrible but I believe COVID has been a blessing for myself personally and a lot of tour guide operators to be quite honest with you.”

“When someone says I had a trip planned to Egypt I tell them I can take them to see petroglyphs within a 200km range.”

She helps people discover wildflowers, petroglyphs, and areas of cultural significance in the area her family has called home for 40,000 years.

“I showcase in and around Carnarvon all the up to the upper Gascoyne, the Junction, as far north as Quobba and the blowholes and as far south a Wooramel through Pimbie.”