“With the virus comes the driveway dwellers”?
These are the words I used when positioning ‘Fork the Bus’ in its new, hopefully temporary home in Miss Linda’s parent’s driveway.
When home is a bus and travelling Australia is your lifestyle and then the country locks down for a worldwide pandemic I suppose one can expect a few lifestyle changes.
I will paint a picture for you. Miss Linda and I were happily working at the stunning Great Ocean Road town of Apollo Bay in Victoria. The seasonal job was wrapping up in a few weeks. With a healthier looking bank balance we were set to take a slow journey following the mighty Murray River up into New South Wales and then on to sunny Queensland for the winter.
Future work and house sits were all teed up, Bella had taken her front row seat as we pointed ‘Fork the Bus’ East for our next adventurous trundle.
What could possibly go wrong? Enter Covid-19!
This insidious virus changed our and everyone’s pictures and in an incredibly short period of time.
Around this time when in Apollo Bay I did an interview with radio station 5AA and Leith Forrest which you can listen to on Finchy’s Australia Facebook page. Listening back to that interview now really highlights how quickly ours and everyone’s worlds have changed. The interview was done in the very early stages of Corona Virus and we talked about how the government’s decision to stop Chinese from entering Australia has dramatically affected iconic tourism destinations like the Great Ocean Road.
At this point in time the world was still open for travel, no declarations of a pandemic and besides running out of work a few weeks earlier than planned, I like many, saw Covid-19 as an inconvenient blip on the map. How wrong was I?
By the time our travels had hit the Riverland area of South Australia and we were parked up on the banks of my old friend the Murray River, the world around us was starting to show signs of change. Empty shelves began to appear in toilet paper isles of supermarkets. Who would have thought that this was one of the first signs of our changing world?
I had been chafing at the bit to return to my beloved river and I was now boating with old mates, swimming and kayaking and loving life, but not all was good in our piece of Australian paradise.
There was something annoying in the back ground.
A bit like a persistent fly buzzing around your face that just won’t go away. News coverage about this thing called Covid-19 was on the rise and people responded by starting to panic buy. My personal opinion was that I didn’t understand why the general population and media were getting in a frenzy over some sniffily noses from China.
It was Miss Linda’s idea to consider turning back. I hadn’t even considered the prospect and was horrified at the thought. You see, Linda was a nurse by trade and has had pandemic and infectious disease training. Me, I suffer from incurable itchy feet and nothing was going to stop the lifestyle I love so much. Wrong again Finchy!
Miss Linda convinced me that this was real and that she thought that state borders were on the brink of closing. At this point we found out that the house sit and work we had set up was all put on hold due to the travel bans that had just been introduced. Our world and everyone’s world was changing and it was with a heavy heart I turned ‘Fork’ around and returned home to the South East of South Australia.
So like a dog with its tail between its legs I retreated to Miss Linda’s parent’s driveway and set up our new indefinite home. For a pair of nomads like us this is a very difficult lifestyle change but thanks to Linda’s parents we actually have a viable and safe option.
Now don’t get me wrong, this article isn’t designed to be a pathetic whinge about our own inconvenience. It is more a snapshot in time and an example of how this dreadful disease has affected us to date. I certainly realise that we are very lucky to have good options available as many people don’t have. I am very thankful that we have our health and somewhere to live to see this thing through. We are also with family and that is very important in these times.
I can’t help but think of all the permanent travellers out there who live this nomadic lifestyle. Many that we have met on our travels and I just hope that they too have a safe driveway to live in, until once again we can all take up where we left off. Traveling the length and breadth of this magnificent country called Australia.
I do have a picture that is tattooed in my memory. It is a magnificent scene which was created the day before we returned home. It’s a brilliant red sunset reflecting on the mirror-like waters of Murray River. I gently drift around a bend on my kayak as Miss Linda, Bella and ‘Fork the Bus’ come in to view.
I look forward to the day that we all can return to our own personal rivers and paddle safely once again.
