He’s more than 16,000 kilometres from home, however 22-year-old Niko Keric is loving East Gippsland’s country lifestyle. Niko, from Gothenburg in Sweden, currently calls Bairnsdale home, taken under the guise of Old Station Café owner, Simon Ellis, after supporting bushfire-affected people with BlazeAid in the wake of the summer’s disasters. Niko, who was intending on travelling in Asia with a...

Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, is calling for calm in the Orbost and Marlo areas following news of a potential COVID-19 outbreak earlier this week, but is also urging government departments to act more swiftly to alert local residents of the danger. Mr Bull said as of noon today, a number of businesses in which the 25-year-old infected Melbourne resident attended during her visit over the...

Ian Lockwood has been in real estate for 30 years in Metung. He’s experienced the highs and lows of the real estate market over the years, but claims never in those three decades has business been as good as it is now. Since November last year, Mr Lockwood says real estate sales have been going gangbusters. “We’ve had best trading period that I’ve ever had since I’ve been in the real estate...

Relaxing COVID-19 restrictions in regional areas with low and no cases of the virus was a real possibility –five days ago – however with news of a suspected case in Orbost, that may be put on the backburner. On Friday, Premier Dan Andrews told the Bairnsdale Advertiser it was still his aim, subject to the numbers presenting in regional areas, to move to “what might be termed a more generous set...

A COVID-19 infected person has put an entire community at risk of capturing the rapidly transmitted disease. The Melbourne resident and her partner are believed to have avoided Melbourne's strict city lockdown, travelling to Orbost and Marlo via Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale, stopping at a number of local venues and businesses. The person is believed to have been tested for the virus and should...