NSW Country trip: 24 March

From Dubbo

Writing this from Dubbo, where we settled in a few hours ago. Changed the heading to NSW only, as we don’t believe we will make it to Victoria given the current situation.

After having spent 5 lovely days in Little Hartley, today was time to move on. We do feel that during this weird period in our lives, it was really comforting to have good friends close by and to share our worries. Thanks for having us, Phil & Deb!

While there, everything has been checked, doublechecked, fixed where needed (as all is still new and we are still going through the testing phase).  It was great to have access to Phil’s tools (& shed!) and the local Bunnings for those types of things.

We are not 100% convinced that our bike rack (max carrying capacity either 40 or 60kg, depending on which sticker you read) has been mounted correctly and able to handle the 37.5kg bike weight we have, as we noticed the ensuite wall separating slightly from the back wall (which has the bike rack on the other side).

And when checking with the caravan mob we were, of course, told to stop carrying our bikes (and bring back the van, haha)… Luckily for us, we could leave the bikes with Phil & Deb and the van can be looked at whenever that may be. Then the bikes will come along again 😉. Meanwhile P&D – feel free to use them (I wouldn’t on your hill!!)….

Given the superb weather we had during our time in the Blue Mountains, we enjoyed the outdoors as much as possible; had a bbq in the beautiful Megalong Valley, and Phil and Arno went for a nice game of golf…

Just a little practice first….

Of course we – like the rest of the world – have been closely following the virus updates, as all our friends and loved ones are all in different situations/circumstances.  Yesterday here in Australia the non-essential services/shops were shutdown and 88,000 people out of a job (probably more by the end of today).  Some of the state borders have closed, so 14 days self-isolation will be needed if you cross. Likely this may apply to all states by end of today.

We also have no idea if we can continue to travel, even though many caravan parks remain open; they are still seen as an ‘essential service’ as loads of people don’t have a fixed home anymore and have been living the nomadic life already for a long time. Others have rented out their homes in order to travel around the country and can’t even go back to their home if they had to.

We are able to go off the grid, as our solar panels and battery are all in perfect working order; however, us nomads may not necessarily be welcome anymore anywhere, as we could become a burden on the rural/NSW country’s much smaller health facilities and resources.

We booked a few nights here in Dubbo, so we will just see what happens next.  We know we have a comfortable home waiting for us, which is, as our dear neighbour puts it: ‘in good hands’ – bless and thank you Del!

The lovely Taronga Western Plain Zoo will close tomorrow, so this time we won’t be able to see how that has changed since the last time I was here (with my mum and Sam back in ’94, I think!).

For now, we will enjoy our site in Dubbo, the cheap petrol prices (around $1.30/litre for Diesel), the wonderful weather, and our country, and just try to support the local businesses where possible, too.