Tassie Tour Week 5

Posted on by joansjottingscom

The week started as we expected but early Wednesday the tour leader called a meeting 9:30am to tell us that due to COVID-19 the Tasmanian government was planning to go into lockdown hence any tourists were being recommended to return home ASAP. Therefore our tour was to be disbanded and we were advised to make arrangements to leave. Then she drove off…….

The road into Queenstown. Mining has denuded the landscape.
View improving as we near Strahan.
Sign of the times, no chairs to sit on to eat. All takeaway now. Restricted numbers, keeping social distance and sanitister. Nobody in the streets.
Not to be despondant, our group, the walkers, now reduced to five, decided to have a celebratory meal before we disbanded to go our separate ways. With the luxury of having an oven in the camp kitchen, a roast dinner was the obvious choice.
The walk to the beach from the CP.

We all went from feeling stunned and abandoned to then into a planning frenzy to change our booking on the SOT by bringing it forward. We had accommodation paid for in Strahan for the next two nights so that took some immediate pressure off.

The SOT number was in overload, some got through but I and others had to get family members on the mainland to book for us.

A few of us booked into the Mersey Bluff CP in Devonport till we sail.
A couple of us went to wave to the Rollers on the SOT from this viewing platform.

So here I am doing the day crossing, hopeing to be able to drive through the NSW border tonight. Just waiting for the inevitable announcement that the Victorian and NSW border will close and a 14 day isolation period will be enforced.

Keeping our social distance.

Addit: The SOT arrived at St Kilda Pier 7:40pm and I was amongst the last called to drive off. There was a cruise ship, the Golden Princess obviously with no passengers berthed beside us. Two other cruise ships were at anchor in the bay.

By now it was dark and the streets were deserted. Google wasn’t a lot of help. The street lighting and signage left a lot to be desired but I managed to get through Melbourne by 8:30pm. It was another 3 hours to the border so I settled in for a long drive. Being a dark night, new moon, I was more than happy to put Flo into cruise control and follow the taillights of an Australia Post semitrailer knowing he was also heading for the border and beyond. A couple of caravans pulled into a rest area just north of Albury so I felt safe pulling over too for a few hours sleep and an early start in the morning.

It was a relief to be back in NSW so the urgency was gone. I filled with fuel at the service centre in Yass and saw a woman coming back to her car with a pack of toilet paper. So when I went to pay I saw a pallet of toilet paper in their shop area. I was allowed to purchase 2 packs of 8 rolls and couldn’t believe my luck. Having been on the lookout for Paul as he couldn’t find any to buy.

I needed some shopping so went to the shops in Dapto and checked with Paul to see if he needed anything. He is having difficulty shopping with the 4 kids home from school. It was strange not having any physical contact with the kids. They were on their newly purchased tablets doing their home schooling.

It was good to reunite with Van. She seemed happy to see me.

Home again now. Robyn had done a cook up and left me some soup for tea. The next door neighbour was over to welcome me home. Van checked out the house and settled in, in no time at all.

The garden will keep me busy for some time, it needs a lot of attention.

So good to be home.

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Published by joansjottingscom

Retired in April 2017 after a long career in cardiac nursing which I loved, I find my life has totally changed. After almost loosing my husband last August to a dissecting aortic aneurysm complicated by a massive watershed stroke post cardiothoracic surgery, we are adapting to a very different life together. This is our now story. Update, November 2025. Chris continued to do well until he had a stroke in August 2018. This time after 2 weeks on life support with no sign of improvement he passed away peacefully with the family present. RIP Chris, much loved and missed.