DEAR News Of The Area,

I HAVE to tell you about my lovely day volunteering at the Visitors Information Centre (VIC).

It’s such a lovely place to work and you get such a lot of job satisfaction telling visitors about our beautiful Valley.

Because many visitor centres have closed down due to the theory that people will use apps to get around and find places to visit, we, thanks to our volunteers, Nambucca Valley Council and the Nambucca Tourist Association have remained open. “

Today’s visitors included a family of German folk who explored Nambucca and took a walk along what I was told was our stunning beach.

The children had fun paddling and they wanted to know where to go from here as they headed south.

Seasoned travellers, they didn’t want to miss a thing.

Scotts Heads was a definite request.

I encouraged them to go via Macksville, the river and town being so pretty on such a lovely day.

They wanted information about South West Rocks, which was on their bucket list, Port Macquarie and the Koala Hospital, so the children left clutching koala pamphlets.

They stayed for quite a while looking at maps and all we had to offer.

Another lady wanted things to do and see around here for the next few days, she was from Victoria and called me a “treasure” as she left.

People from Brisbane drove especially from Coffs Harbour to call in and get information and again commented about how you can’t find this stuff on an app. They had come to us because there was no VIC in Coffs.

They certainly wanted brochures, maps etc about the Nambucca Valley – more than they could find on their phone.

A common comment was how lovely it was to walk on our pristine beaches and look up and not see houses or crowds.

We suggested visits to Bowraville, Valla Beach, Pub With No Beer and drives in the Valley among our many recommendations – too many to mention here.

Because of Covid the Visitors Information Centre was closed often in the last few years and half of our volunteers did not return, so we are not open every day of the week as we were in past years.

We are open Friday, Saturday and Sunday at this stage and with more volunteers we could open more often.

Imagine my surprise when I went into a shop in Bowra Street and someone said “is it true that the Visitors Information Centre is closing?”

I had to say no definitely not as far as I’m concerned, the visitors and local businesses and the Valley would lose so much if our doors had to shut.

I guess this is one reason for my letter to say as far as I know the rumours are untrue.

Regards,
Dorothy HARRIS,
Nambucca Heads.