Kms today 637 Kms to date 1583
I was checking my news feed at about 11pm before going to bed when I read that Queensland was going to close its border to travellers from Greater Sydney at 1 am on the 24th! The restricted zone included Central Coast which meant that I wouldn't have time to get out of the area before the deadline.
I sat there stunned thinking the whole trip had gone down the toilet. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep that night so I made a spur of the moment decision to pack up right then and head back to Victoria. If Qld had closed its borders, then Victoria would probably follow soon after. (this turned out to be very prescient). I was already packed ready to go so I got out of bed, got dressed and loaded up my gear on the Kawasaki as quietly as possible. I left a 12:30am and freewheeled down the hill to keep noise down. I had filled up the tank the day before so I took the same route out of Sydney I had come in on last Saturday.
I kept going as far a Marulan where I stopped for fuel and a bite to eat. I confirmed with the cashier that Marulan was outside the Greater Sydney area: just in case! I sent Alan a text telling him what I was doing. Next stop was Gundagai and the rain started. I had my Ray Jay's rain suit on and had my heated gloves up to the max. I also had to fire up my heated grips. It was pretty grim with spray off the trucks reducing visibility. As I approached Gundagai there was a very unwelcome digital notice over the road. The Hume Hwy was closed south of Gundagai and I had to divert via Tumut. I stopped for fuel at about 6 am and waited until the Hungry Jacks opened and the sun came up. I didn't fancy the road to Tumut in the rain and the dark. I found out that a tanker truck had crashed on the Hume at 8:30 the previous night and they were still cleaning up the mess. A customer warned me that the Tumut road was unsafe for motorcycles because of potholes, which was the last thing I wanted to hear!
I contacted Morag who I knew was in Albury on the first leg of her round Australia trip and told her the news. I suggested we meet in Holbrook at 10:30 as she was driving through there on her way to Cowra. The road to Tumut was pretty bad, but the road back to the Hume Hwy and the traffic through Adelong was much worse and I hit a few potholes. I arrived in Holbrook and stripped off in my favourite café, where I have stopped many times before. They had a nice warm room with an open fire. I called Alan and he said he only realised that I had left when he checked my room after I hadn't appeared for breakfast. I also called my two cousins and sister who I was due to stay with to tell them the news. Morag arrived and we shared a coffee. We would not be seeing each other again for sometime. I never imagined that she was going to have so much trouble with the car.
I obtained a border pass to enter Victoria and that was no problem as my brother's house was still in a Green Zone. I stayed at the same motel in Wodonga that I stayed in on the way up. That evening I got a text message from the Vic Dept of Health to tell me that the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney were now a Red Zone. I hadn't been there so that was OK. Then I got a second text message at 10:30 pm telling me that the rest of Greater Sydney was an Orange Zone and I had to get tested and self-isolate at home until I got my result. Wodonga Hospital was a walk-up Covid testing site so I decided to go there.
Not long after Greater Sydney was declared a Red Zone and a few weeks later the whole of NSW became and "Extreme" Zone and entry to Victoria was all but banned.
No comments:
Post a Comment