18th June Wodonga

Kms today 339        Kms to date 339

The situation crossing State borders was fraught with uncertainty.  As Covid outbreaks occurred and were brought under control, each State government made its own decisions on whether residents of other States could enter freely or be subject to testing or even quarantine.  These decisions were made in secret and announced with very little notice.

Victoria and in particular Melbourne was going through a lockdown starting at the end of May.  A person, who had returned from overseas and been in 14 day quarantine in Adelaide, caught Covid from his neighbours in the hotel he was staying at just before he left and he brought the virus into Victoria.  I was not allowed to leave Melbourne, but this was changed in the middle of June.  I was prepared to travel to Sydney and self isolate in the bungalow at the back of Alan's house for 14 days.  Alan agreed to this, but he and Jacki had grave doubts how it would all work.  I studied up on the conditions for self-isolation in NSW.  There were big penalties for breaches!

I decided that I had to leave Melbourne and Victoria now to give me the best chance of entering NSW and QLD which both had a 14 day requirement to be out of Melbourne or else 14 days quarantine.  NSW dropped this requirement on the 17th June but QLD hadn't.  This change in NSW rules was published without fanfare on the same day it had re-affirmed its previous rules.  I needed to be constantly alert to the changes that States were making even on the same day!  The irony was that on the 16th June NSW Health declared a Covid outbreak in Bondi when a driver picked up the Delta Virus from an international flight crew. Everyone assumed that the NSW "Gold Standard" contact tracing would soon confine the outbreak to the Eastern Suburbs.

Leaving Melbourne in such a hurry Morag could only get a shot of my back!

I had a final check at my eye doctor as I was being treated for a rise in the pressure in my right eye.  I had had laser treatment to reduce the pressure, but if that didn't work I am due for an operation when I get back home.  The uncertainty about the progress of my Glaucoma was to play a roll later in the journey.

It was straight up the Hume in the rain to the Motel Wellington in Wodonga with a NSW border entry pass for Saturday morning. The Ray Jays rain suit was a success as were the  Ventura heated gloves as it was cold as well as wet.

Motel Wellington had an entrance for trucks as well as cars so I knew what I was in for. What did surprise me was the check in. Reception was closed and I had to register on a touch screen terminal with my details and my room key was delivered out the bottom; a bit like a poker machine! The room was large but spartan but did the job. I walked to a local pub for dinner. It was much more up market but the bistro was booked out so I ate in the bar in front of a fire.

Morag was also going on a round Australia trip in our fairly new Hyundai Ioniq Plug In Hybrid car.  She planned to leave on 23rd June.  Her journey had very few problems with border crossings, but there were problems with the car, which were totally unanticipated by me and which while not stranding her, made her journey much more difficult than it should have been.