Fire, Flood, Pestilence

Pelican Foreshore Park

https://newywithkids.com.au/pelican-park/

We left Newcastle at around 2:00 pm and decided to explore a few other natural beauty spots nearby.

It was such a lovely, warm day that when we chanced on an area of Lake Macquarie called Pelican, we were so taken by it that we decided to stop and have our picnic lunch there.

We found an absolutely beautiful spot right on the lake with several picnic tables and barbecues available for anyone to use completely free of charge.

We learnt later that it was part of Pelican Foreshore Park, a popular picnic area for Sydney siders as well as locals.

We didn't require the barbecue but we took over one of the large picnic tables where we were able to comfortably lay out all our salads, fruit and bread rolls. 

It was an idyllic spot teeming with wildlife. 

As soon as we laid out the food our table was immediately surrounded by pigeons, seagulls and terns; so many seagulls; the more dominant ones protesting loudly to the others to leave our table to them. 

There were two wooden jetties opposite; a fisherman was cleaning his catch of the day on one and throwing what he discarded into the water for the pelicans.

There were at least 6 of them there at one point swallowing the fish remnants almost as quickly as they were thrown into the water or catching them straight into their copious pouches just under their beaks..

Sharing definitely wasn't their forte.

The larger ones aggressively devoured most of it themselves with very little going to the smaller birds.

The trees above us were filled with white parrots, cockatoos, magpies and a few kookaburras.

We also spotted a couple of spoonbills and several herons.

As we enjoyed the wildlife spectacle all around us, we both said to the other, almost at the same time, how much we would miss the wonderful bird life that we had grown accustomed to seeing in both Australia and New Zealand.

If our newly booked flight wasn't cancelled, we would be back in the UK in less than a week's time.

But we decided not to dwell on that too much then and just enjoy the moment in that glorious lakeside location.

After lunch we wandered onto the far end of the jetties where we dipped our feet into the cool water and saw even more pelicans and blue billed ducks swimming by.

Once the fisherman had gone we were the only people left in that particular spot so at one point each of us sat at the far end of our own private jetty where we basked in the warm but not violently hot sunshine, enjoyed the cacophony of bird life all around us and watched the two remaining pelicans at our jetties systematically swallowing any remaining fish particles that had been stored in their pouches during their manic feeding frenzy from before

It was a truly idyllic moment.

We didn't see anyone swimming in the lake that afternoon even though it was perfect weather; we wondered whether that was down to social isolation or Health and Safety.

There were notices on lakeside billboards from Lake Macquarie Council warning parents that the current can get quite strong in certain areas of the lake and that the beach can drop off suddenly in parts, so children should be supervised at all times.

I had read something similar on quiet, family beaches in Italy so I just assumed that notices such as these were standard Health and Safety advice boards strategically placed in waterfront locations all over the world.

I researched this area a few weeks later online and it was repeated there as well but I also read that blue ringed octopuses had been spotted in that location several times and that a man was stung by one the previous year and it was almost fatal.

According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science, these marine creatures are highly venomous but will only bite if harassed or poked.

The problem is they camouflage very well and tend to hide under rocks and weedy areas.

I was stung by a weaver fish once not because I was deliberately provoking it but because I accidentally stood on it when walking on the sand in shallow water; the intense pain from that sting is excruciating but at least it doesn't kill you.

Would accidentally standing on a blue ringed octopus while it's minding its own business under a rock in Lake Macquarie count as provocation?

I rather think it would in the octopus psyche.

I expect the outcome would be a little more serious than being stung by a weaver fish.

That may be a contributory factor as to why there were no swimmers at all in that lake on that beautiful, sunny afternoon.

Luckily we didn't come into contact with any of those charming creatures ourselves when we were paddling in that water, otherwise I expect our memory of the occasion would be far less agreeable.

As it is, we thoroughly enjoyed our picnic in Pelican Foreshore Park that afternoon and to this day, it remains the very last proper picnic we had anywhere at all.

A perfect final excursion before returning to Sydney and preparing for our return journey home.

Return to Sydney via Lane Cove

We reluctantly left the beautiful area of Pelican on Lake Macquarie at around 4:00 pm and set course for Lane Cove.

Lane Cove is where our north Sydney friends lived and where they were storing our extra bag and our daughter and her partner's two large suitcases.

Our plan was to pick up all the bags that evening so we could arrange for them to be shipped back to the UK the following day.

We drove back via Woy Woy which is where we took the train to on our first full day in Australia in December 2019.

It was strange seeing those same vistas again by car rather than from the window of a train.

It was decidedly cooler in March than it had been back then but at least it wasn't as cold and rainy as it was when we drove through that area a few days earlier.

We arrived in Lane Cove at around 6:30 pm where we greeted our friends, gave them the vintage sparkling wine from McGuigan's and arranged to meet for our final meal together the following evening in an outdoor restaurant in the stylish Mosman area of North Sydney.

We then loaded all our bags into the boot of the car and set off for our final Airbnb rental in Australia.

This was the one in Bondi Junction which we had selected from the list our Airbnb rep sent us when we were still in Canberra.

It was a larger, rather more expensive accommodation option than we usually opted for but as we wanted to avoid sharing access areas and lifts with others at that volatile time, it was perfect as it was on the ground floor.

It also had an underground car park for all residents so we had our very own parking space and the pièce de résistance was a large, private outdoor terrace with barbecue, stylish furniture and a table with six chairs around it.

It couldn't have been more perfect.

Not long after leaving Lane Cove I suddenly remembered that we were due to vacate that flat two days later on the 20th which would have been our departure date had borders not closed in SE Asia at that time. 

I contacted Airbnb immediately to see if they could persuade the landlords to extend our stay until the Monday but as Australia was going into full lockdown at that point they could not oblige nor could they assist us with other accommodation options from 20 March onwards.

Sydney hotels were charging ridiculous nightly rates at that time and we didn't fancy staying in a hotel anyway as that would inevitably lead to shared access issues so I texted our Belmont South landlords to ask if we could book our studio flat again from evening of Friday 20th until Monday 23rd.

They responded with an enthusiastic yes almost immediately but they also advised us to contact the landlords of the Bondi Junction flat directly about an extension as the flat would definitely be empty from the 20th to the 23rd and they may be happy to help us out.

This we did and they were more than happy for us to stay until the Monday.

They were able to extend the booking themselves via Airbnb but we couldn't book it ourselves online which was strange.

Anyway, panic over.

We now had a large comfortable, safe space to live in for our last few days in Australia.

All we had to do at that point was find a company to ship back our excess luggage and get it dispatched as soon as possible.

How difficult could that be?

🤣🤣🤣

Thursday 19 March 2020

“You know you’re getting older when your back starts going out more than you do.” – Phyllis Diller

I had had a dull ache in my lower back and pain in my right leg since my fall in the Blue Mountains the previous Sunday.

Following an injury from many years earlier, I was left with permanent damage in two discs in my lower back.

Managed properly with regular exercise and avoiding too sedentary a lifestyle, this condition usually caused me minimal discomfort, but the bad fall in the Blue Mountains, followed by several hours sitting in a car every day since Monday then lifting and carrying heavy bags in and out of the boot of our hire car, I found that my back was in a very fragile state indeed when I got out of bed that morning.

Averting a full blown spasm, which would make walking and standing totally impossible, was paramount prior to our long journey home the following Monday but the prospect of 27 hours of sitting in airports and in several aircraft would make that difficult to avoid unless I managed to improve the problem prior to departure.

I decided that an early morning walk was vital before even thinking about continuing with the rationalisation of our luggage.

We walked all around our local area of Bondi Junction, around the bus depot and back through the station.

We then went to Woolworths in the lower ground floor of the Westfield Centre where we were hoping to buy fruit and yogurt for breakfast.

Once there, it didn't take us long to realise that something wasn't quite right.

First of all, it was totally packed which was unusual in supermarkets anywhere at 9:00 am on a weekday morning.

One woman had about 50 toilet rolls in her trolly and nothing else

Another one had virtually all the pasta on the now empty pasta shelves in her trolly.

A young man had a trolly full of crisps, biscuits, chocolate bars, sweets and tins of beans; so many beans. 

People were panic buying. 

Australia had announced that it would be locking down at the weekend so people were stocking up.

We managed to put some yellow watermelon into our trolly with a few red tipped bananas and we were going to leave it at that but then we decided that we should maybe buy a few essentials to take back with us so we would have something to live on in the UK for the first few days at least.

The problem with panic buying is that it is infectious; when you see those shelves being emptied before your very eyes, you suddenly realise that you had better pick up a few basics yourself before the supermarket is stripped of everything and left completely bare.

We read later that Australia had the worst panic buying frenzy than any other country in the world. 

That did not surprise us at all.

We had Witnessed it twice ourselves: once in that pharmacy in Canberra where several people filled their trollies with all the masks and hand sanitizer in the shop, then in the supermarket at the Westfield Centre on 19 March which was a complete frenzy of buying.

To read more about that go to https://m.qt.com.au/news/australias-panic-buying-shame/4029003/

Before we knew it, we too had stocked our trolly with several packets of pot noodles in a variety of flavours, rice, a packet each of wholemeal pasta and quick cook noodles which is all that was left in those aisles, dried fruit, nuts, vegemite, stock cubes, cuppa soup in different flavours, crispbread, rice crackers, tea, several packets of filter coffee, the last two packets of Tim Tams, digestive biscuits and even a small bag of flour.

We also bought four rolls of toilet paper, a double pack of kitchen towel, Vim beach powder, toilet cleaner, anti-bacterial wipes and a small bottle of disinfectant.

It may seem strange that we stocked up on items such as these to take all the way back to the UK but we are so grateful to our house sitter for giving us a heads up on the shopping situation in the UK the previous day.

Had we not purchased these very basic essentials, I do not know how we would have managed during those two quarantine weeks back in Surrey.

My back felt a little less fragile when we returned home with our wares that morning but I knew I would need to do something more drastic about it before the journey to avoid serious problems en route.

But first things first.

We breakfasted on yellow watermelon which neither of us had eaten before.

We then had freshly brewed coffee and a red tipped banana each. 

In Australia, the more expensive and better quality bananas were dipped in red wax at the bottom so you were aware of the difference.

These were more like the bananas we were used to in the UK than others we had eaten in Australia.

They were delicious.

After breakfast we had no choice but to embark upon the long, arduous task of sorting out our luggage for shipping.

In the clear light of day, it was obvious how we should approach this.

As we had no choice but to pay for 30 kg in each bag, to send less would not make sense, so we decided to ship back our two larger suitcases as well and travel back with the smaller ones.

That way we could also send back one of the spare smaller cases and our daughter's partner's backpack which we would fill with clothes and put into one of the larger bags.

By doing this we would leave ourselves with the bare minimum which would spare my back and use our shipping allowance to full effect.

As we did not know at that point how long it would take the shipped bags to reach us in the UK, we decided that all our recent shopping and anything else we may have needed on arrival in the UK, should come back with us in our checked bags and hand luggage but everything else could be shipped.

The few items of clothing we could take back with us would be distributed evenly between the shopping; what we had set aside for the op shops could be worn over the course of the next few days then given to our friends on Sunday evening to take to the op shop of their choice.

The next part of the plan was the most stressful and time consuming.

Every single item that was being shipped back in those four bags had to be listed and described in some detail with its estimated monetary value in a separate column on a customs document which we had to download from the Send My Bag website.

Once completed we had to print four copies of it before delivering our bags to the depot.

We also had to print four copies of address labels in the UK and in Australia and an address label of a friend or relative in the UK in case we did not make it back before the bags.

Listing every single item for 130 kg of luggage took hours.

It was 6:00 pm by the time we finished so yet again it was too late to deliver the bags to the Send My Bag depot at the airport.

We also had to save all the completed documents onto a memory stick and find someone to print them for us.

My husband managed to find a reprographics outlet nearby where we could get that done but as it closed at 5:30 pm we arranged to go first thing the next morning.

It had been one of our most difficult days in Australia thus far, not as disheartening as the day we missed our flight to the Whitsundays maybe but certainly extremely tiring and stressful.

It was also clear to me at that point that I needed to see a doctor prior to departure to see if I could get a hydrocortisone injection for my back and strong pain meds to get me through the journey.

I would need to look into that the following morning as at 6:30 pm we needed to set off for St Leonard's where we were meeting our North Sydney friends for our final evening together in Mosman, in a beautiful location called Chowder Bay.

Sydney in Lockdown 

We had been so totally preoccupied with shipping our luggage back to the UK that we hadn't fully appreciated the changes that were taking place all around us.

I do not know how the lockdown process began in the UK as we were not there at the beginning but in Sydney it appeared to happen In stages.

Many tourist attractions closed their doors to visitors when we were in Canberra or in the case of the Sky Tower even before we left.

We regretted not visiting the Taronga zoo when we had been in Sydney in January and February, as it too was one of the first attractions to close in the city's phased lockdown process.

The Ku-ring-gai wildlife enclosure had also closed that week as had the Darling Harbour Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction had closed all except access routes to the supermarket on the lower ground floor, and many bars, cafés and restaurants closed that day or were getting ready to close after the weekend. 

Doyles in Watson's Bay was only seating people outside as we had experienced the previous evening in Ripples In Chowder Bay.

Streets were empty and the constant stream of tourism in Sydney's iconic harbourside had vanished seemingly overnight.

Cruise liners were no longer permitted to dock in Sydney Harbour and many hotels had closed. 

It felt like a completely different city from the one we had arrived in in December 2019 or indeed even the one we visited just a few weeks earlier.

Having spent the past few days cooped up in our rental flat dealing with suitcases, we needed fresh air and exercise so we decided to go for a drive to some of the more familiar areas of Sydney which we knew well and which had become part of our extraordinary Sydney lifestyle experience. 

We drove to Bondi Beach and had our statutory walk towards Coogee then back to Bondi.

This time we appeared to be walking that trail entirely on our own which is extremely unusual.

Anyone who has experienced it will know that it is probably one of the busiest walking trails in the world and for good reason.

To see it so empty that day was extraordinary.

We then drove to the Circular Quay area and walked into the botanical garden where we enjoyed glorious, cloudless views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge which we had not seen in that way before.

We walked to Buckley's where our favourite barman welcomed us back as if we were long lost friends.

Many of the bars, cafés and restaurants in the stretch between the harbour and the opera house had closed already, Buckley's would close its doors on Sunday  at midnight.

We told the barman that we would be leaving on the Monday morning (unless the flight was cancelled), so we would definitely be back the following evening and Sunday too if we could for our final Buckley's Happy Hour drinks.

He seemed genuinely happy about that especially as the bar was totally empty apart from us; it appeared that very few clients had been there at all since the previous weekend.

Like other young bar staff and restaurant servers he was worried about his future as he would not be paid during lockdown and did not have sufficient funds to fly back home at that time.

This was a serious problem in Australia considering how many young people from all over the world were working there on temporary visas.

We had a lovely quiet drink in that iconic location in Sydney Harbour and we realised then that with all the millions of tourists who had visited that city in the past and all those who would travel there in the future, we and just a handful of others enjoyed the unique privilege of seeing it as we did that weekend: almost completely empty and quieter than an isolated beach in Manly.

It reminded us of those pre-lockdown days in New Zealand in the city of Wellington which was also empty and isolated when we had our final city walk there on the evening of 5 March.

We assured our charming barman again that providing it was still legal we would return for Buckley's Happy Hour the following day and Sunday as well.

He assured us that it would be and was pleased to hear that.

We then drove to Watson's Bay and saw the most glorious sunset we had seen in Australia since we were in the desert in January; we saw parrots in the trees, local children swimming in the enclosed sea pools and beautiful deserted beaches all around us.

It couldn't have been more perfect.

The weather had been glorious all day long and the autumnal evening light was spectacular.

It felt as if Australia was saying goodbye to us and urging us to return when all this covid nonsense was behind us.

As we stood there watching thei early autumn Australian sun set over Sydney harbour in the background, we thought that it really wouldn't be the end of the world if our new flight were also cancelled and we had to lockdown in Australia for a few weeks or even months.

A very large part of me secretly wished we could.

The wonderful Botanical Gardens of Sydney

Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan

https://www.australianbotanicgarden.com.au/

Having been offered upgrades on our long Emirates Sydney to Dubai flight, we were feeling a little more confident about our imminent departure for the UK on Monday afternoon.

The reality of life in lockdown Britain was beginning to feel very real but even if the Emirates flights were to be cancelled before then, Australia too would be in complete lockdown from Monday 23 March so either way these were our final two days of freedom whatever happened.

If the Emirates flights were cancelled, I suppose we would contact our former landlords in Belmont South and take them up on their generous accommodation offer in their cosy annexe studio which we had found very comfortable earlier that week notwithstanding our encounter with the largest spider we had ever seen in any of the countries or locations we had ever travelled to up to that point.

The fact that we could do a little gardening in the section of garden attached to that studio was particularly appealing; and, of course we could enjoy glorious sunset walks along the nearby banks of Lake Macquarie as and when allowed and have regular BBQs on our very swish private electric grill on our very own terrace.

Obviously we wouldn't be able to keep a hire car for a long term lockdown period and there wouldn't be any point anyway if we couldn't go anywhere.

If we did make it back to the UK, we would undoubtedly need to quarantine at home for two weeks we'd heard; at least we hoped it would be at home and not in some government facility somewhere.

We had no idea at all at that point what to expect on our arrival at Gatwick airport on the Tuesday morning.

Either way, we would no longer be able to have interesting days out or visit places we had not yet seen so we decided that we should definitely spend our final weekend of freedom out of doors as much as possible.

We would have loved a trip to the Taronga zoo even if we had to drive rather than arrive by ferry.

The Ku-ring-gai enclosure for a proper Australian style bush walk, with kangaroos, wallabies and possums in woodland all around us, would have been a good alternative.  

Sadly when we checked online for tickets, these and other wildlife sanctuaries or enclosures in the Sydney area were already in lockdown.

We eventually discovered the Australian Botanic Gardens in Mount Annan, which was about a 45 minute drive from central Sydney, which we could access free of charge and still happened to be open to the public so it made sense to go there.

It should be noted that we were looking for somewhere we could self isolate quite easily in as we had done in Zelandia and Hobbiton during our final week in New Zealand.

The Australian Botanic Garden in Mount Annan seemed perfect and also extremely interesting for foreign tourists as it "showcases the enormous diversity of Australian flora".

"Covering 416 hectares between Camden and Campbelltown in Sydney’s south-west, it is Australia’s largest botanic garden".

"The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust's plant conservation research facilities are based at that Garden, including the award-winning Australian Plantbank which houses the New South Wales Seedbank".

"The Australian Botanic Garden in Mount Annan is set to become the new home of the National Herbarium of NSW".

"The new Australian Institute of Botanical Science will also be anchored by the Australian Plantbank – positioning NSW as a global leader in botanic sciences".

"The Australian Institute of Botanical Science will focus on providing solutions to issues such as food security and climate change" which are undoubtedly two of the most pressing issues that future generations will need to deal with.

It will also focus "on jobs and educational opportunities, within that major recreational space for the rapidly growing Macarthur region".

"The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust is a statutory body established under the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Act 1980".

"The Trust is responsible for the management and stewardship of The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney",

This includes "The Domain, The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan and The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah".

 I realised as I was reading this on the Australian Botanic Garden website that we had already visited the other areas listed on the site which the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust were responsible for.

The Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and best known Botanic gardens in the world, not least as the best views of Sydney's iconic Opera House, its Harbour Bridge and the CBD can be enjoyed from that garden.

We had visited it again the previous day and those views had been spectacular.

That "is Australia’s oldest living scientific institution, beginning its life in 1816".

"The Garden encompasses 30 hectares and is the oldest botanic garden in Australia, home to an outstanding collection of more than 27,000 plants from around the world".

"Attracting more than five million visits each year, Sydney's flagship Botanic Garden is one of the top ten most visited destinations in Australia for international visitors and was named NSW’s Major Tourist Attraction of the Year for the previous two year’s running at the NSW Tourism Awards".

"As well as hosting an engaging program of events such as Vivid and New Year’s Eve, the Garden is a national leader in digital and public engagement".

"The Domain encompasses 34 hectares of urban parkland wraps around the Royal Botanic Garden in  Sydney".

"It is endowed with significant natural and cultural heritage values and plays a central role in Sydney’s festivals and cultural events, as well as the recreational and sporting pursuits of city."

The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah "is situated 1,000 metres above sea level in the World Heritage-listed Greater Blue Mountains" which we had hiked in the previous Sunday.

"It features 28 hectares of manicured gardens showcasing cool climate plants from around the world".

With more than 350 staff, these Gardens combined bring together a world-leading staff with expertise in the fields of science, horticulture, public space activation, visitor experience, digital engagement, tourism, planning, major project delivery, commercial investment, sustainable resource and asset management, sport and recreation".

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Mount Annan Botanic Garden.

It was actually the first time I had seen a macadamia tree which did fascinate me as we both love macadamia nuts.

What did surprise us, however, was the number of people there.

There were several large wedding parties in different locations of the gardens with large marquees set up in beautiful meadow locations which was so lovely; what a wonderful place to get married in.

However, the wedding guests alone appeared to create a constant stream of people in the few public toilets available which was rather worrying at that time.

There were also large family groups having picnics and several foreign tourists groups which surprised us as we had not seen any in Sydney Harbour the previous day.

We speculated that like us, others too wanted to have a day out in the country before lockdown prevented it hence the congestion.

It was certainly more crowded  than our hike in the Blue Mountains had been the previous Sunday but then the weather was considerably better than it had been then.

We avoided the crowded areas as much as was physically possible and enjoyed a lovely walk in that stunning location on a warm Indian summer's day.

It felt odd to us that days out like this would soon be banned wherever we ended up from Monday onwards.

We stayed until mid afternoon and then decided to drive back via Palm Beach where we had also been on our first day in Australia.

Strangely enough there were fewer people there than in Mount Annan, probably because everyone thought the beach locations would be crowded so they drove further afield for their penultimate day of freedom before the long, arduous, winter lockdown (which it would soon be in the Southern Hemisphere).

We enjoyed a perfect Palm Beach sunset, fish and chips outdoors at then we went back to the flat to do some washing and a little final packing and sorting before watching Messiah on Netflix and having a reasonably early night.