There's rarely a long weekend when locals don't take to social media to vent their frustration at the traffic as visitors descend on the region. The complaints invariably outweigh the reminders that the influx is good for the struggling local economy.
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This year, it's been been different in a couple of ways. At Easter, when the state was largely locked down to prevent the spread of COVID and visitors were effectively barred from heading to our beaches, we were not inundated.
Nonetheless, sharp eyed residents kept a close eye on holiday homes and out-of-state numberplates, all the while grumbling (with good reason) that the region would not be able to cope with a COVID outbreak. By and large, we dodged the viral bullet.
The June long weekend was reasonably quiet, with the normal winter festivals designed to attract off-season visitors cancelled.
This past weekend, however, seemed supercharged with visitors. A bed-and-breakfast operator in Huskisson said it was the busiest she'd seen it in her 17 years in the town.
The Live Traffic app showed traffic banked up from Berry to Nowra on the Friday and slowgoing through the usual Milton-Ulladulla chokepoints.
Keen to bust out of the city and take advantage of a run of beautiful weather, visitors swarmed over the region. Finding a parking spot at one of the Jervis Bay beaches or at Mollymook was challenging. But, happily, the crowds seemed to be observing the pandemic guidelines, most notably social distancing if not mask wearing.
Perhaps it was the run of days without community transmission that made us a bit more comfortable, perhaps the fact we were outside enjoying the warmth and sunshine, which put the pandemic to the back of our minds for a bit. The collapse in testing rates, however, was the elephant in the room.
Certainly, local businesses would have enjoyed the cash boost even if local motorists loathed the extra traffic. For those fearful of COVID - and that should be most of us - any crowding, even if outdoors, raised concerns.
That's because our exposure to COVID is invariably linked to the city.
We need the revenue visitors bring but not the virus. Over summer, as people are forced to holiday domestically, we need to balance the needs of the economy with the demands of health. We cannot afford to become complacent.