Entry 20 – Border crossing – Covid-19 implications
- December 2021.
A
reasonable amount of information in this edition will be the most uninteresting,
lacklustre entry we have had the need to put on record. So why do it. A very
good question. Primarily for a reminder, how poorly our governing bodies
perform their roles when under pressure during the covid-19 pandemic. In
Australia there is a federal government and governments of its individual
states and territories. None appeared to be cooperating or attempting to work
in with one another during the covid-19 pandemic, at time of this record
nearing the end of the two year mark of corona virus turmoil, leaving all Australian citizens frustratingly
infuriated. It was the classic “human element,” where powerful individuals were
putting their own interests first and not considering the consequences of their
actions upon the whole of the Australian community.
We were in
Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory with most routes to our home state
of South Australia via roads through the states of New South Wales and
Victoria.
The reason
for being in Canberra other than the need to be with our son and family was the
declaration from the South Australian Government to suspend its current border
closure policy and permit travel into S.A. from other areas of Australia,
naturally with some rules put in place.
There was
no simple summary provided with all the legal jargon explaining the new rules.
As an individual you had to read the new rules and try to make your own
interpretation, including the standard contradictory statements within these
rules. This was becoming a standard conversational topic amongst other
travellers about various border crossing rules, all expressing their
frustration of the contradictory statements within the rules with no one able
to declare it was simple.
The new South
Australian Government rules had been in place a week and already a couple of
things had been changed. We found ourselves re-reading the rules on a daily
basis as our travel time got closer, trying to obtain an understanding of its
meanings.
The new
criteria for entering South Australian, it’s government had introduced a rating
system for all Australian local government areas (LGA) primarily based on their
vaccination level and secondly current covid-19 positives. Basically, we were
in need to plan a travel route through towns with a rating level of very low
risk or low risk. All other proposed options were very undesirable.
Normally
when travelling this route, we would zig zag all over the country side enjoying
its offerings. We were in need to research each town and LGA we might travel through.
This was difficult enough but there was also the need to research what LGA the
individual towns were located. It was a laborious frustrating task.
After
wasting far too much time researching possible options, we chose a shorter
route hoping to lessen our exposure to a sudden change with the rating of an
LGA along our planned route of about 1,200 kilometres. Some of the LGA we were
to travel through had been given a low-risk rating which required for us to
submit to a covid-19 test no later than 72 hours prior our arrival at the South
Australian border and a required negative result.
Adding to
the difficulty of complying with these rules the Victorian Government announced
they were no longer going to publish the latest covid-19 hot spots. “What the!”
To work in
with the 72-hour time line for a covid-19 test (which just happened to be our
first one) we decided to obtain it at the town of Hay in New South Wales. Thus,
more research and yes, we could get a test at Hay but we needed to make an
appointment and their time slot for tests was 2.45 pm to 3.30 pm Monday to
Friday. We made a booking and were advised results would be available in 24 to
48 hours.
With the
above put in place we then applied for the required entry permit to enter South
Australia.
With all of
the above in place we said our good byes to our Canberra family and headed home,
minimising our stops along the way, hoping to avoid any new hot spot locations.
Night one
we were back at Narrandera for the night. It had been 11 days since we had
stayed overnight. We thought a walk along the koala spotting trail would be
good to stretch out after a long day’s drive. The first picture shows part of
this walk, 11 days prior and the second how it looked 11 days later.
Even the
seat Steve was sitting on near the edge of the high flowing Murrumbidgee River
was submerged in its depths out of sight.
We
remembered the wetlands walk was mostly on a levy bank and deviated to the
wetlands trail as nothing else was looking accessible. At least we got to
stretch out most of the way before the need to retrace our steps.
It had been
wet during our time at Canberra but we hadn’t comprehended the continuing “wet,”
ramifications hundreds of kilometres away along the passage of the Murrumbidgee
River.
Further
down the road we next set camp at Hay also near the Murrumbidgee
River a location we stayed about two weeks previously. The water level had
risen considerably. Two weeks prior we had been seated at the riverside tables
enjoying our surroundings. The same tables, now submerged under the water
surface.
We obtained
our covid-19 test at Hay in New South Wales and was presented with one sheet of
paper with information about a QR code on how to obtain test results. In
amongst other information on this sheet was a requirement to self-isolate till
you were notified of the result.
A planned
evening meal out at a Chinese restaurant and then to watch the sun set from a
raised viewing area about 16 kilometres out of town were suddenly abandoned. Then
there was our planned travel time over the next 3 days to get to the South
Australian border to comply with the South Australian governments covid-19
rules and time lines.
Once again
it was reiterated how our state governments impose their own rules without any
consideration or cooperation how those rules could be implemented. Ironically
if we hadn’t been forced by the South Australian government to obtain a
covid-19 test prior to re-enter our home state we would have been free to roam
around Hay.
We re-read
the covid-19 information sheet a couple of times and slept on its information.
By morning our thoughts had diagnosed it as being of general information for
people with symptoms and more than likely not specific to our circumstances. We
still erred on the side of caution staying isolated.
We did walk
along a walking path nearby the Murrumbidgee River and found it to be cut off
by rising waters in both directions. Thankfully we managed to walk a couple of
kilometres boosting our well-being before returning to our nearby camp.
We had been
advised we would get notification of our covid-19 test results in 24 to 48
hours. After 24 hours and no results notification we decided to continue
driving towards South Australia.
Late
afternoon we propped at the small Victorian town of Walpeup with access to a
toilet, shower and power for a nominal fee of $10 a night. We were the only
travellers stopped for the night and appreciated access to power where we ran
the caravan air-conditioner. The outside temperature had been at 39 C degrees
for the last couple of hours.
As per
normal when away from the larger populated regions of Australia we were
experiencing a lack of good phone reception adding to our anxiety with a lack
of response with notification of our covid test results. We found our anxiety
levels escalating due primarily to a lack of response with our covid-19 test, a
lack of concise information guiding us and a changing covid situation evolving
with a new variant discovered. We were on schedule with our estimated eta at
the South Australian border and decided to accelerate our estimated arrival
time by a day hoping to minimise our increasing anxiety levels and avoid any
rule changes that we may incur.
We
continued towards the South Australian border and at about half hour prior to
the border our phone beeped, notifying of our negative covid-19 results. Hooray.
All seemed good with our compliance requirements imposed upon us by the S.A.
Government.
We were
greeted at the border by a Police Officer who initially had a melt down when we
notified them, we were a day ahead of our estimated time of arrival. Once they
managed to get past that idea, he went to his tablet to check for our permit
and their mood improved when we produced evidence of our negative covid test.
We were given the all clear to enter South Australia but were notified of a
rule change introduced at 6 pm the previous night where we were now required to
submit to another covid-19 test on entry to SA at a testing station down the
road a bit before proceeding any further into South Australia.
We
submitted to our second covid-19 test in two days and asked the testing
officers for guidance with our requirements. At least they were consistent with
our N.S.W. experience. They were unable to provide any guidance, having also
given up trying to understand any current conditions due to the ongoing endless
changes imposed by the decision makers.
It took
about another frustrating 48 hours dealing with Government computer systems not
coping with the demand expected of it, until we were able to input our required
information for another electronic check in form. We were required to report
each day for the next 14 days the condition of our health.
Our home
was about 300 kilometres from our border entry point. We spent another four
nights camped out before we decided it was time to arrive at home.
Our last
two nights we spent at our friends Petra and Jeff’s home (about 75 kilometres
south of our home) where we thoroughly enjoyed their company and a great
well-being boost. It was a wonderful positive feeling to finish our travels for
2021. Ironically the covid-19 pandemic’s created movement restrictions were
credited with our crossing paths in 2020 with Petra and Jeff, both genuine beautiful
like-minded people.
