Quest Apartments Griffith
Late in 2020 we were approached by Sophie Sun, franchisee for Quest Apartments Griffith with a novel suggestion – could we arrange a tour offering insights and information about agriculture in the Riverina region? The tour was for all QUEST staff likely to come into contact with Apartment guests. The idea was to ensure staff could talk knowledgeably about local rural industries and incidentally promote them to visitors.
Quest Apartments – a recent quality addition to accommodation in Griffith City
We were glad to be able to respond. Staff were divided into two groups to ensure no group was too big to allow each participant to ask questions and observe processes as they were demonstrated by farmers. MIA Coaches provided the transport. The tour program included visits to a cherry orchard/packing shed, a large irrigated mixed cropping farm (wheat, barley, oats, canola), a wine grape vineyard and a winery. The group also visited Altina Wildlife Park near Darlington Point on the Murrumbidgee River and this proved an informative and popular stop. An excellent lunch at the mixed cropping farm was provided by Coleambally Central School P&C Association and various local farmers (of olive products, jujubes, prunes, cottage-made jams and preserves and wines) were on hand to talk about their farms and to sell product.
A group of Quest Apartment staff at Mr Joe Raponi’s modern cherry packing house at Wilbriggie
A group of Quest Apartment staff at Mr Joe Raponi’s modern cherry packing house at Wilbriggie
We applaud Ms Sun’s initiative. It is in line with other initiatives by school principals wanting their new staff members to gain a better understanding of the rural communities they find themselves teaching in, and with tours by Visitor Centre staff wanting to better understand the industries and farming processes in their local areas.
Quest Apartments has made a positive impact on Griffith commerce, especially since Ms Sun took over the franchise about a year ago. QUEST has become a major sponsor of the local Business Association and has taken a series of actions to support and improve local community life.