West Australians are heeding the State Government's call to wander out yonder to stimulate regional business, but it has come at a cost.
Holiday accommodation in the Midwest coastal town of Kalbarri, 570 kilometres north of Perth, has been booked out for months thanks to a rush of people exploring their own state while interstate and international tourism has been shut off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Business owners and workers, however, say the flipside of the boom is a lack of housing for people in the service industries.
They are being forced to cut back services, and at least one is considering closing because of a lack of housing for themselves and staff to rent.
The owners of a successful family cleaning business which services local accommodation providers say they may be forced to leave or move into a caravan with three of their children, because they cannot find a place to live.
Amanda and Owen Hooton said they and their children have had to leave their rental home but are struggling to find an alternative.
"The turnover for our business in two months has been amazing [but] we have got nowhere to live," Mrs Hooton said.
"It is really hard, no sleep. It is the stress."
Her husband Owen said the holiday market has squeezed out long-term renters.
"It is that busy here with the holiday market that there are no private rentals available," Mr Hooton said.
"For people that want to come here and work there is nothing here."
Customers to serve, but no staff
Restaurant owner Melissa Finlay described business this year as "a rollercoaster".
"It has just been a crazy, crazy year. From highs to absolute lows," she said.
"From being shut down, no one here, scrambling 'how we are going to survive', to reopening and then scrambling as to how we can get enough produce in to feed everyone."
Her seafood restaurant is advertising for chefs and wait staff but she said it is difficult when they have nowhere to stay apart from a bed in a mixed dormitory at a backpackers.
"Since reopening I have been trying to find accommodation," Ms Finlay said.
"I have rented one place in town, a two bedroom place that I have three of my workers in, and I have just managed to secure an unfurnished four bedroom house which I have only got for three months.
"I have a full time chef, but I need more."
She said a local pilot and an education assistant, working second jobs, were among her wait staff.
But the accommodation shortage was making it hard to attract staff from further afield.
She said the restaurant has the customers to open seven days but is currently only open five evenings and one lunch because of the lack of workers.
"The risk is we cannot provide the service that we want to," Ms Finlay said.
"We cannot provide the level, the quality, and it may impact badly on Kalbarri."
Plea for long-term rentals
A social media post by real estate agency Ray White in Kalbarri pleaded for home owners to rent their properties to long-term tenants.
"Another cry for housing help," it read.
"Ray White Kalbarri is desperate for permanent rentals."
It listed a description of tenants looking for homes and ended with "this is only the tip of the iceberg".
Kalbarri has benefited from the newly opened Skywalk over the Murchison River Gorge.
Figures from the visitor centre show 12,590 people went into the centre this August — 30 per cent more than the same time last year.
July 2020 was up 25 per cent on July last year.
A spokesman for the Northampton Shire Council, which takes in Kalbarri, said the council would consider any proposal for worker accommodation but was not in a position to fund a development.
