Life breathed back into Jervis Bay as business owners welcome back Sydneysiders for the first time since lockdown

In July, business owners along Owen Street in Huskisson, who rely on trade from visitors, labelled the area as a "ghost town", with one commenting it was hard to walk down the street without tearing up.

It was a different story over the weekend as visitors lined up outside shop fronts, tables were full at cafés and beachgoers spread out on their towels to enjoy the white sands Jervis Bay is known for.

The Huskisson Triathlon held over Saturday and Sunday also brought a massive crowd to the area.

Related: Effects of Sydney lockdown felt in South Coast, Owen St in Huskisson a 'ghost town'

Owners of the Cooked Goose Café on Hyams said it felt "refreshing" to welcome hundreds of people through their doors over the course of the weekend.

"We did not expect it to be as busy as it was on Saturday," said Madison Behringer, who owns the café with her husband Riley Hooper.

"It was a completely different change of pace from what we've had the last few months.

"It was really refreshing and encouraging to know that people are going to be traveling and that business will be getting back to normal hopefully soon."

Madison said Sydney travelers reported they were happy to be returning to the South Coast and the majority were compliant with COVID safety measures.

"Customers were saying they were down from Sydney and that they were so happy to be able to travel again," she said.

"Some people were forgetting that we do need to check for vaccination before they can come in.

"A lot of people needed to be reminded about masks, but everyone was fine to do that once we reminded them."

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It was a bumper weekend of trade for Dive Jervis Bay too, who had four times the amount of passengers over the weekend compared to during the week.

"We already managed to quadruple our passengers that we've had over the last seven days," said Jet Jones, the marketing manager of Dive Jervis Bay.

"Having 4 million people up the road in Sydney that couldn't visit for for a few months has made them really eager to come down and enjoy the amazing location that we've got down here."

Jet said the increased trade has allowed the team to breathe a sigh of relief, but the next challenge is finding the staff to match what looks like will be a busy summer ahead.

"It's a big relief, because it's obviously been so long and it's been really difficult to look after our staff," he said.

"Now the big challenge is actually having enough staff to take advantage of that over the summer. We're currently trying to hire and it's proving pretty difficult at the moment because the qualifications are pretty specific."

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