Dear Sir: My wife and I have just returned to Melbourne after an enjoyable short break in Mildura.
The only real criticism I can offer is that we found it very hard to buy local produce.
We wanted Local wine, Dried fruit and what ever else we could lay our hands on. Why isnt there a central shop (Similar to SPC in Shepparton) where locals producers can move their produce?
We were told that many of the roadside stalls had been forced to close by council, but surely with such high unemployement a central depot could be rented, where bulk supplies produced locally could be sold.
We went into several supermarkets and most of the dried fruit was from overseas. The wines same as at home, such a shame.
We toured the wineries that were on the maps, and along the way found a couple that werent, however if there was a central "Co-op" type outlet it would attract more short termers like us.
Their seems to be no shortage of empty shops, and lots of training organisations, and at the end of the the day, Crisco and Aldi are only big companies doing the same thing.
We were lucky in the end to get what we wanted, only because a local rang around to find out who had what and who was open.
If we had a week we perhaps could have found them all ourselves. but for a short time visitor a central outlet would be great.
For the record we loaded the boot with $800 worth of Wine, olives, dried fruit and vegetables, and were happy to do so knowing the money would stay in the town rather than heading off overseas, and to all those who said hello, thanks for a great weekend
Yours etc
Robert Larkin